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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 





©CAK1 13524 


SEP 19 iSi 7 



FAIRY TALES 

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN 



TRANSLATED BY MRS. E. LUCAS 
AND MRS. H. B. PAULL. ILLUS- 
TRATED BY E. P. ABBOTT AND 
PUBLISHED BY GEORGE W. 
JACOBS & CO., PHILADELPHIA 




SEP 19 1917 

f | 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

The Fir-Tree 9 

The Garden op Paradise 21 

The Storks 41 

The Ugly Duckling 48 

Little Tiny 62 

The Red Shoes 78 

The Steadfast Tin Soldier 87 

Little Ida’s Flowers 94 

The Bottle Neck 105 

The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf 120 

Holger the Dane 132 

The Shepherdess and the Sweep 139 

The Bell 146 

The Snow Queen 153 

The Angel 197 

The Conceited Apple-Branch 201 

The Marsh King’s Daughter 207 

The Roses and the Sparrows 258 

Great Claus and Little Claus . . . 273 

Elder-Tree Mother 290 

The Nightingale 301 

The Old Street Lamp 315 

The Mermaid 325 

The Rose Elf 357 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Wild Swans 364 

The Goblin and the Huckster . 386 

The Tinder Box 392 

The Traveling Companions 402 

Ole Lukoiis, the Dustman 428 

The Goloshes of Fortune 443 

The Snail and the Rose-Bush 479 

The Emperor’s New Clothes . *• M r. 483 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Tiny flew from flower to flower 

Frontispiece ^ 

She was all glittering, dazzling ice . . 

Facing p, 

>5 

j 

The prince drew back the branches 


38 

The angel and the child 

44 

198 ^ 

Among the water-lilies lay a sleeping 



woman 

44 

242 

The fish swam right up to the little mer- 



maid princess 

44 

326 • 

The swans settled close to her .... 

44 

370 



THE FIR-TREE 


T^AR down in the forest, where the warm snn and the 
fresh air made a sweet resting-place, grew a pretty 
little fir-tree; and yet it was not so happy, it wished 
so much to be tall like its companions — the pines and 
firs which grew around it. The sun shone, and the 
soft air fluttered its leaves, and the little peasant chil- 
dren passed by, prattling merrily, but the fir-tree 
heeded them not. Sometimes the children would bring 
a large basket of raspberries or strawberries, wreathed 
on a straw, and seat themselves near the fir-tree, and 
say, “Is it not a pretty little tree?” which made it feel 
more unhappy than before. And yet all this while the 
tree grew a notch or joint taller every year; for by 
the number of joints in the stem of a fir-tree we can 
discover its age. Still, as it grew, it complained, “Oh ! 
how I wish I were as tall as the other trees, then I 
would spread out my branches on every side, and my 
top would overlook the wide world. I should have the 
birds building their nests on my boughs, and when the 
wind blew, I should bow with stately dignity like my 
tall companions.” The tree was so discontented, that 
it took no pleasure in the warm sunshine, the birds or 
the rosy clouds that floated over it morning and eve- 
ning. Sometimes, in winter, when the snow lay white 
and glittering on the ground, a hare would come spring- 
9 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


in g along, and would jump right over the little tree; 
and then how mortified it would feel! Two winters 
passed, and when the third arrived, the tree had grown 
so tall that the hare was obliged to run round it. Yet 
it remained unsatisfied, and would exclaim, ‘ ‘Oh, if I 
could but keep on growing tall and old! There is 
nothing else worth caring for in the world !” In the 
autumn, as usual, the woodcutters came and cut down 
several of the tallest trees, and the young fir-tree, 
which was now grown to its full height, shuddered as 
the noble trees fell to the earth with a crash. After 
the branches were lopped off, the trunks looked so 
slender and bare, that they could scarcely be recog- 
nized. Then they were placed upon wagons, and drawn 
by horses out of the forest. i ‘ Where were they going? 
What would become of them?” The young fir-tree 
wished very much to know ; so in the spring, when the 
swallows and the storks came, it asked, “Do you know 
where those trees were taken? Did you meet them?” 

The swallows knew nothing; but the stork, after a 
little reflection, nodded his head, and said, “Yes, I 
think I do. I met several new ships when I flew from 
Egypt, and they had fine masts that smelt like fir. I 
think these must have been the trees ; I assure you they 
were stately, very stately.” 

“Oh, how I wish I were tall enough to go on the 
sea,” said the fir-tree. “What is this sea, and what 
does it look like?” 

“It would take too much time to explain,” said the 
stork, flying quickly away. 

10 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“ Rejoice in thy youth ,’ ’ said the sunbeam; “ rejoice 
in thy fresh growth, and the young life that is in thee.” 

And the wind kissed the tree, and the dew; watered it 
with tears ; but the fir-tree regarded them not. 

Christmas-time drew near, and many young trees 
were cut down, some even smaller and younger than 
the fir-tree who enjoyed neither rest nor peace with 
longing to leave its forest home. These young trees, 
which were chosen for their beauty, kept their branches, 
and were also laid on wagons and drawn by horses 
out of the forest. 

‘ ‘ Where are they going ? 9 9 asked the fir-tree. * ‘ They 
are not taller than I am : indeed, one is much less ; and 
why are the branches not cut off? Where are they 
going?” 

“We know, we know,” sang the sparrows; “we have 
looked in at the windows of the houses in town, and we 
know what is done with them. They are dressed up 
in the most splendid manner. We have seen them 
standing in the middle of a warm room, and adorned 
with all sorts of beautiful things,— honey cakes, gilded 
apples, playthings, and many hundreds of wax tapers.” 

“And then,” asked the fir-tree, trembling through 
all its branches, “and then what happens?” 

“We did not see any more,” said the sparrows ; “but 
this was enough for us.” 

“I wonder whether anything so brilliant will ever 
happen to me,” thought the fir-tree. “It would be 
much better than crossing the sea. I long for it al- 
most with pain. Oh ! when will Christmas be here? I 
11 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


am now as tall and well grown as those which were 
taken away last year. Oh! that I were now laid on 
the wagon, or standing in the warm room, with all that 
brightness and splendor around me ! Something better 
and more beautiful is to come after, or the trees would 
not be so decked out. Yes, what follows will be grander 
and more splendid. What can it be ? I am weary with 
longing. I scarcely know how I feel. ’ ’ 

‘‘Rejoice with us,” said the air and the sunlight. 
“Enjoy thine own bright life in the fresh air.” 

But the tree would not rejoice, though it grew taller 
every day; and, winter and summer, its dark-green 
foliage might be seen in the forest, while passers-by 
would say, “What a beautiful tree!” 

A short time before Christmas, the discontented fir- 
tree was the first to fall. As the ax cut through the 
stem, and divided the pith, the tree fell with a groan 
to the earth, conscious of pain and faintness, and for- 
getting all its anticipations of happiness, in sorrow at 
leaving its home in the forest. It knew that it should 
never again see its dear old companions, the trees, nor 
the little bushes and many-colored flowers that had 
grown by its side ; perhaps not even the birds. Neither 
was the journey at all pleasant. The tree first recov- 
ered itself while being unpacked in the courtyard of 
a house, with several other trees ; and it heard a man 
say, “We only want one, and this is the prettiest.” 

Then came two servants in grand livery, and carried 
the fir-tree into a large and beautiful apartment. On 
the walls hung pictures, and near the great stove stood 
12 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


great china vases, with lions on the lids. There were 
rocking-chairs, silken sofas, large tables, covered with 
pictures, books, and playthings, worth a great deal of 
money, — at least, the children said so. Then the fir- 
tree was placed in a large tub, full of sand ; but green 
baize hung all around it, so that no one could see it 
was a tub, and it stood on a very handsome carpet. 
How the fir-tree trembled! “What was going to hap- 
pen to him now?” Some young ladies came, and the 
servants helped them to adorn the tree. On one branch 
they hung little bags cut out of colored paper, and each 
bag was filled with sweetmeats; from other branches 
hung gilded apples and walnuts, as if they had grown 
there ; and above, and all round, were hundreds of red, 
blue, and white tapers, which were fastened on the 
branches. Dolls, exactly like real babies, were placed 
under the green leaves, — the tree had never seen such 
things before, — and at the very top was fastened a 
glittering star made of tinsel. Oh, it was very beau- 
tiful ! 

“This evening,” they all exclaimed, “how bright it 
will be !” “Oh, that the evening were come,” thought 
the tree, “and the tapers lighted! then I shall know 
what else is going to happen. Will the trees of the 
forest come to see me ? I wonder if the sparrows will 
peep in at the windows as they fly? shall I grow faster 
here, and keep on all these ornaments during summer 
and winter?” But guessing was of very little use; it 
make his bark ache, and this pain is as bad for a 
slender fir-tree, as headache is for us. At last the 
13 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


tapers were lighted, and then what a glistening blaze 
of light the tree presented! It trembled so with joy 
in all its branches, that one of the candles fell among 
the green leaves and burnt some of them. “Help! 
help!” exclaimed the young ladies, but there was no 
danger, for they quickly extinguished the fire. After 
this, the tree tried not to tremble at all, though the fire 
frightened him; he was so anxious not to hurt any of 
the beautiful ornaments, even while their brilliancy 
dazzled him. And now the folding doors were thrown 
open, and a troop of children rushed in as if they in- 
tended to upset the tree; they were followed more 
slowly by their elders. For a moment the little ones 
stood silent with astonishment, and then they shouted 
for joy, till the room rang, and they danced merrily 
round the tree, while one present after another was 
taken from it. 

“What are they doing? What will happen next?” 
thought the fir. At last the candles burnt down to the 
branches and were put out. Then the children received 
permission to plunder the tree. 

Oh, how they rushed upon it, till the branches 
cracked, and had it not been fastened with the glisten- 
ing star to the ceiling, it must have been thrown down. 
The children then danced about with their pretty toys, 
and no one noticed the tree, except the children’s maid, 
who came and peeped among the branches to see if an 
apple or a fig had been forgotten. 

“A story, a story,” cried the children, pulling a little 
fat man towards the tree. 

14 



SEP 191317 



©G.W. J. & CO. 


She was all glittering, dazzling ice 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“Now we shall be in the green shade/ ’ said the man, 
as he seated himself under it, 4 4 and the tree will have 
the pleasure of hearing also, but I shall only relate one 
story; what shall it be! Ivede-Avede, or Humpty 
Dumpty, who fell downstairs, but soon got up again, 
and at last married a princess.” 

“Ivede-Avede,” cried some. “Humpty Dumpty,” 
cried others, and there was a fine shouting and crying 
out. But the fir-tree remained quite still, and thought 
to himself, “Shall I have anything to do with all 
this!” but he had already amused them as much as 
they wished. Then the old man told them the story of 
“Humpty Dumpty,” how he fell downstairs, and was 
raised up again, and married a princess. And the 
children clapped their hands, and cried, “Tell another, 
tell another,” for they wanted to hear the story of 
“Ivede-Avede”; but they only had “Humpty 
Dumpty.” After this the fir-tree became quite silent 
and thoughtful ; never had the birds in the forest told 
such tales as “Humpty Dumpty,” who fell downstairs, 
and yet married a princess. 

“Ah! yes, so it happens in the world,” thought the 
fir-tree; he believed it all, because it was related by 
such a nice man. “Ah! well,” he thought, “who 
knows! perhaps I may fall down too, and marry a 
princess”; and he looked forward joyfully to the next 
evening, expecting to be again decked out with lights 
and playthings, gold and fruit. “To-morrow I will 
not tremble,” thought he; “I will enjoy all my splen- 
dor, and I shall hear the story of Humpty Dumpty 
15 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


again, and perhaps Ivede-Avede . ’ 9 And the tree re- 
mained quiet and thoughtful all night. In the morn- 
ing the servants and the housemaid came in. “Now,” 
thought the fir, “all my splendor is going to begin 
again.” But they dragged him out of the room and 
upstairs to the garret, and threw him on the floor, and 
in a dark corner, where no daylight shone, and there 
they left him. “What does this mean?” thought the 
tree. “What am I to do here? I can hear nothing in 
a place like this,” and he leant against the wall, and 
thought and thought. And he had time enough to 
think, for days and nights passed and no one came near 
him, and when at last somebody did come, it was only 
to put away large boxes in a corner. So the tree was 
completely hidden from sight as if it had never existed. 
“It is winter now,” thought the tree, “the ground is 
hard and covered with snow, so that people cannot 
plant me. I shall be sheltered here, I dare say, until 
spring comes. How thoughtful and kind everybody 
is to me ! Still I wish this place were not so dark, as 
well as lonely, with not even a little hare to look at. 
How pleasant it was out in the forest while the snow 
lay on the ground, when the hare would run by, yes, 
and jump over me too, although I did not like it then. 
Oh! it is terribly lonely here.” 

“Squeak, squeak,” said a little mouse, creeping cau- 
tiously towards the tree ; then came another, and they 
both sniffed at the fir-tree and crept between the 
branches. 

“Oh, it is very cold,” said the little mouse, “or else 

16 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


we should be so comfortable here, shouldn’t we, you 
old fir-tree ?” 

“I am not old,” said the fir-tree; “ there are many 
who are older than I am. ’ ’ 

“Where do you come from! and what do you know?” 
asked the mice, who were full of curiosity. “Have 
you seen the most beautiful places in the world, and 
can you tell us all about them? and have you been in 
the storeroom, where cheeses lie on the shelf, and hams 
hang from the ceiling? One can run about on tallow 
candles there, and go in thin and come out fat.” 

“I know nothing of that place,” said the fir-tree, 
“but I know the wood where the sun shines and the 
birds sing. ’ ’ And then the tree told the little mice all 
about its youth. They had never heard such an ac- 
count in their lives ; and after they had listened to it 
attentively, they said, “What a number of things you 
have seen! you must have been very happy.” 

“Happy!” exclaimed the fir-tree, and then as he 
reflected upon what he had been telling them, he said, 
“Ah, yes! after all, those were happy days.” But 
when he went on and related all about Christmas-eve, 
and how he had been dressed up with cakes and lights, 
the mice said, “How happy you must have been, you 
old fir-tree!” 

“Iam not old at all,” replied the tree, “I only came 
from the forest this winter; I am now checked in my 
growth . 9 9 

“What splendid stories you can relate!” said the 
little mice. And the next night four other mice came 
17 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


with them to hear what the tree had to tell. The more 
he talked the more he remembered, and then he thought 
to himself, “ Those were happy days, but they may 
come again. Humpty Dumpty fell downstairs, and yet 
he married the princess; perhaps I may marry a 
princess too.” And the fir-tree thought of the pretty 
little birch-tree that grew in the forest, which was to 
him a real beautiful princess. 

“Who is Humpty Dumpty?” asked the little mice. 
And then the tree related the whole story; he could 
remember every single word, and the little mice were 
so delighted with it, that they were ready to jump to 
the top of the tree. The next night a great many more 
mice made their appearance, and on Sunday two rats 
came with them ; but they said, it was not a pretty story 
at all, and the little mice were very sorry, for it made 
them also think less of it. 

“Do you know only one story?” asked the rats. 

“Only one,” replied the fir-tree; “I heard it on the 
happiest evening in my life ; but I did not know I was 
so happy at the time.” 

“We think it is a very miserable story,” said the 
rats. “Don't you know any story about bacon, or 
tallow in the storeroom?” 

“No,” replied the tree. 

“Many thanks to you then,” replied the rats, and 
they marched off. 

The little mice also kept away after this, and the 
tree sighed, and said, “It was very pleasant when the 
merry little mice sat round me and listened while I 
18 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


talked. Now that is all past too. However, I shall 
consider myself happy when some one comes to take 
me out of this place.” But would this ever happen? 
Yes; one morning people came to clear out the garret, 
the boxes were packed away, and the tree was pulled 
out of the corner, and thrown roughly on the garret 
floor ; then the servant dragged it out upon the stair- 
case where the daylight shone. “Now life is begin- 
ning again,” said the tree, rejoicing in the sunshine 
and fresh air. Then it was carried downstairs and 
taken into the courtyard so quickly, that it forgot to 
think of itself, and could only look about, there was 
so much to be seen. The court was close to a garden, 
where everything looked blooming. Fresh and fra- 
grant roses hung over the little palings. The linden- 
trees were in blossom; while the swallows flew here 
and there, crying, “Twit, twit, twit, my mate is com- 
ing,” — but it was not the fir-tree they meant. “Now 
I shall live,” cried the tree, joyfully spreading out its 
branches; but alas! they were all withered and yellow, 
and it lay in a corner amongst weeds and nettles. The 
star of gold paper still stuck in the top of the tree and 
glittered in the sunshine. In the same courtyard two 
of the merry children were playing who had danced 
round the tree at Christmas, and had been so happy. 
The youngest saw the gilded star, and ran and pulled 
it off the tree. “Look what is sticking to the old ugly 
fir-tree,” said the child, treading on the branches till 
they crackled under his boots. And the tree saw all 
the fresh bright flowers in the garden, and then looked 
19 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


at itself, and wished it had remained in the dark corner 
of the garret. It thought of its fresh youth in the 
forest, of the merry Christmas evening, and of the 
little mice who had listened to the story of “Humpty 
Dumpty.” “Past! past!” said the old tree. “Oh, 
had I but enjoyed myself while I could have done so ! 
but now it is too late.” Then a lad came and chopped 
the tree into small pieces, till a large bundle lay in a 
heap on the ground. The pieces were placed in a fire 
under the copper, and they quickly blazed up brightly, 
while the tree sighed so deeply that each sigh was like 
a little pistol-shot. Then the children, who were at 
play, came and seated themselves in front of the fire, 
and looked at it, and cried, ‘ 1 Pop, pop. ’ 9 But at each 
“pop,” which was a deep sigh, the tree was thinking 
of a summer day in the forest, or of some winter night 
there, when the stars shone brightly; and of Christmas 
evening, and of “Humpty Dumpty,” the only story it 
had ever heard or knew how to relate, till at last it 
was consumed. The boys still played in the garden, 
and the youngest wore the golden star on his breast, 
with which the tree had been adorned during the hap- 
piest evening of its existence. Now all was past; the 
tree’s life was past, and the story also, — for all stories 
must come to an end at last. 


20 


THE GARDEN OF PARADISE 


rp HERE was once a king’s son; nobody had so many 
or such beautiful books as he had. He could read 
about everything which had ever happened in the 
world, and see it all represented in the most beautiful 
pictures. He could get information about every nation 
and every country; but as to where the Garden of 
Paradise was to be found, not a word could he dis- 
cover, and this was the very thing he thought most 
about. His grandmother had told him when he was 
quite a little fellow and was about to begin his school 
life, that every flower in the Garden of Paradise was 
a delicious cake, and that the pistils were full of wine. 
In one flower history was written, in another geography 
or tables, you had only to eat the cake and you knew 
the lesson. The more you ate, the more history, 
geography, and tables you knew. All this he believed 
then ; but as he grew older and wiser and learnt more, 
he easily perceived that the delights of the Garden of 
Paradise must be far beyond all this. 

“Oh, why did Eve take of the Tree of Knowledge! 
Why did Adam eat the forbidden fruit ! If it had only 
been I it would not have happened! never would sin 
have entered the world !” 

This is what he said then, and he still said it when 

21 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


he was seventeen; his thoughts were full of the Garden 
of Paradise. 

He walked into the wood one day; he was alone, for 
that was his greatest pleasure. Evening came on, the 
clouds drew up, and it rained as if the whole heaven 
had become a sluice from which the water poured in 
sheets ; it was as dark as it is otherwise in the deepest 
well. Now he slipped on the wet grass, and then he 
fell on the bare stones which jutted out of the rocky 
ground. Everything was dripping, and at last the 
poor Prince hadn’t got a dry thread on him. He had 
to climb over huge rocks where the water oozed out of 
the thick moss. He was almost fainting; just then he 
heard a curious murmuring and saw in front of him 
a big lighted cave. A fire was burning in the middle, 
big enough to roast a stag, which was in fact being 
done ; a splendid stag with its huge antlers was stuck 
on a spit, being slowly turned round between the hewn 
trunks of two fir trees. An oldish woman, tall and 
strong enough to be a man dressed up, sat by the fire 
throwing on logs from time to time. 

“Come in by all means !” she said; “sit down by the 
fire so that your clothes may dry!” 

“There is a shocking draught here,” said the Prince, 
as he sat down on the ground. 

“It will be worse than this when my sons come 
home!” said the woman. “You are in the cavern of 
the winds; my sons are the four winds of the world! 
Do you understand?” 

“Who are your sons?” asked the Prince. 

22 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


4 4 Well, that’s not so easy to answer when the ques- 
tion is stupidly put,” said the woman. “My sons do 
as they like, they are playing rounders now with the 
clouds up there in the great hall,” and she pointed 
up into the sky. 

“Oh, indeed!” said the prince. “Ton seem to speak 
very harshly, and you are not so gentle as the women 
I generally see about me!” 

“Oh, I daresay, they have nothing else to do! I 
have to be harsh if I am to keep my boys under control ! 
But I can do it, although they are a stiff-necked lot! 
Do you see those four sacks hanging on the wall? They 
are just as frightened of them as you used to be of the 
cane behind the looking-glass. I can double the boys 
up, I can tell you, and then they have to go into the bag ; 
we don’t stand upon ceremony, and there they have 
to stay; they can’t get out to play their tricks till 
it suits me to let them. But here we have one of 
them.” 

It was the Northwind who came in with an icy blast, 
great hailstones peppered about the floor and snow- 
flakes drifted in. He was dressed in bearskin trousers 
and jacket, and he had a sealskin cap drawn over his 
ears. Long icicles were hanging from his beard, and 
one hailstone after another dropped down from the 
collar of his jacket. 

“Don’t go straight to the fire,” said the Prince. 
“You might easily get chilblains !” 

“Chilblains!” said the Northwind with a loud laugh. 
“Chilblains ! they are my greatest delight ! What sort 
23 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


of a feeble creature are you? How did you get into the 
cave of the winds ?” 

“He is my guest,” said the old woman, “and if you 
are not pleased with that explanation you may go into 
the bag ! Now you know my opinion ! ’ 9 

This had its effect, and the North wind told them 
where he came from, and where he had been for the 
last month. 

“I come from the Arctic seas,” he said. “I have 
been on Behring Island with the Russian walrus- 
hunters. I sat at the helm and slept when they sailed 
from the north cape, and when I woke now and then 
the stormy petrels were flying about my legs ; they are 
queer birds; they give a brisk flap with their wings 
and then keep them stretched out and motionless, and 
even then they have speed enough.” 

“Pray don’t be too long-winded,” said the mother 
of the winds. “So at last you got to Behring Island !” 

“It's perfectly splendid! there you have a floor to 
dance upon, as flat as a pancake, half-thawed snow, 
with moss ; there were bones of whales and Polar bears 
lying about, they looked like the legs and arms of 
giants covered with green mold. One would think 
that the sun had never shone on them. I gave a little 
puff to the fog so that one could see the shed. It was 
a house built of wreckage and covered with the skins 
of whales ; the flesh side was turned outwards ; it was 
all red and green ; a living polar bear sat on the roof 
growling. I went to the shore and looked at the birds’ 
nests, looked at the unfledged young ones screaming 
24 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


and gaping; then I blew down thousands of their 
throats and they learnt to shut their mouths. Lower 
down the walruses were rolling about like monster 
maggots with pig’s heads and teeth a yard long!” 

“ You ’re a good story teller, my boy!” said his 
mother. ‘ ‘ It makes my mouth water to hear you ! ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ Then there was a hunt! The harpoons were 
plunged into the walruses’ breasts, and the steaming 
blood spurted out of them, like fountains over the ice. 
Then I remembered my part of the game ! I blew up 
and made my ships, the mountain-high icebergs, nip 
the boats; whew! how they whistled and how they 
screamed, but I whistled louder. They were obliged 
to throw the dead walruses, chests and ropes out upon 
the ice! I shook the snowflakes over them and let 
them drift southwards to taste the salt water. They 
will never come back to Behring Island ! ’ ’ 

* 4 Then you’ve been doing evil!” said the mother of 
the winds. 

“What good I did, the others may tell you,” said he. 
“But here we have my brother from the west; I like 
him best of all, he smells of the sea and brings a splen- 
did cool breeze with him ! ’ ’ 

“Is that the little Zephyr?” asked the Prince. 

“Yes, certainly it is Zephyr, but he is not so little as 
all that. He used to be a pretty boy once, but that’s 
gone by!” 

He looked like a wild man of the woods, but he had 
a padded hat on so as not to come to any harm. He 
carried a mahogany club cut in the American mahog- 
25 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


any forests. It could not be anything less than that. 

“Where do you come from?” asked his mother. 

* ‘ From the forest wildernesses ! ” he said, ‘ ‘ where the 
thorny creepers make a fence between every tree, where 
the water-snake lies in the wet grass, and where human 
beings seem to be superfluous!” 

“What did you do there?” 

“I looked at the mighty river, saw where it dashed 
over the rocks in dust and flew with the clouds to carry 
the rainbow. I saw the wild buffalo swimming in the 
river, but the stream carried him away, he floated with 
the wild duck, which soared into the sky at the rapids ; 
but the buffalo was carried over with the water. I 
liked that and blew a storm, so that the primeval trees 
had to sail too, and they were whirled about like 
shavings.” 

“And you have done nothing else?” asked the old 
woman. 

“I have been turning somersaults in the Savannahs, 
patting the wild horse, and shaking down cocoa-nuts! 
Oh, yes, I have plenty of stories to tell ! But one need 
not tell everything. You know that very well, old 
woman!” and then he kissed his mother so heartily 
that she nearly fell backwards; he was indeed a wild 
boy. 

The Southwind appeared now in a turban and a 
flowing bedouin’s cloak. 

“It is fearfully cold in here,” he said, throwing wood 
on the fire; “it is easy to see that the Northwind got 
here first!” 


26 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“It is hot enough to roast a polar bear,” said the 
Northwind. 

“You are a polar bear yourself!” said the South- 
wind. 

“Do you want to go into the bag?” asked the old 
woman. “Sit down on that stone and tell us where 
you have been.” 

“In Africa, mother!” he answered. “I have been 
chasing the lion with the Hottentots in Kaffirland! 
What grass there is on those plains! as green as an 
olive. The gnu was dancing about, and the ostriches 
ran races with me, but I am still the fastest. I went 
to the desert with its yellow sand. It looks like the 
bottom of the sea. I met a caravan! They were 
killing their last camel to get water to drink, but it 
wasn’t much they got. The sun was blazing above, 
and the sand burning below. There were no limits to 
the outstretched desert. Then I burrowed into the 
fine loose sand and whirled it up in great columns — 
that was a dance! You should have seen how de- 
spondently the dromedaries stood, and the merchant 
drew his caftan over his head. He threw himself down 
before me as if I had been Allah, his god. Now they 
are buried, and there is a pyramid of sand over them 
all ; when I blow it away, sometime the sun will bleach 
their bones, and then travelers will see that people have 
been there before, otherwise you would hardly believe 
it in the desert!” 

“Then you have only been doing harm!” said the 
mother. ‘ ‘ Into the bag you go ! ” And before he knew 
27 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


where he was she had the Southwind by the waist and 
in the bag; it rolled about on the ground, but she sat 
upon it and then it had to he quiet. 

‘ ‘ Your sons are lively fellows !” said the Prince. 

“Yes, indeed,” she said; “but I can master them! 
Here comes the fourth.” 

“It was the Eastwind, and he was dressed like a 
Chinaman. 

“Oh, have you come from that quarter?” said the 
mother. “I thought you had been in the Garden of 
Paradise.” 

“I am only going there to-morrow!” said the East- 
wind. “It will he a hundred years to-morrow since 
I have been there. I have just come from China, 
where I danced round the porcelain tower till all the 
bells jingled. The officials were flogged in the streets, 
the bamboo canes were broken over their shoulders, 
and they were all people ranging from the first to the 
ninth rank. They shrieked ‘ Many thanks, Father and 
benefactor/ but they didn’t mean what they said, and 
I went on ringing the bells and singing ‘Tsing, tsang, 
tsu!’” 

“You’re quite uproarious about it!” said the old 
woman. “It’s a good thing you are going to the 
Garden of Paradise to-morrow; it always has a good 
effect on your behavior. Mind you drink deep of the 
Well of Wisdom, and bring a little bottleful home for 
me.” 

“That I will,” said the Eastwind. “But why have 
you put my brother from the south into the bag? Out 
28 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


with him! He must tell me about the phoenix; the 
Princess always wants to hear about that bird when I 
call every hundred years. Open the bag! then you’ll 
be my sweetest mother, and I’ll give you two pockets 
full of tea as green and fresh as when I picked it!” 

‘ 4 Well, for the sake of the tea, and because you are 
my darling, I will open my bag ! ’ ’ 

She did open it and the Southwind crept out, but he 
was quite crestfallen because the strange Prince had 
seen his disgrace. 

“Here is a palm leaf for the Princess!” said the 
Southwind. “The old phoenix, the only one in the 
world, gave it to me. He has scratched his whole 
history on it with his bill, for the hundred years of 
his life, and she can read it for herself. I saw how the 
phoenix set fire to his nest himself and sat on it while 
it burnt, like the widow of a Hindoo. Oh, how the dry 
branches crackled, how it smoked, and what a smell 
there was. At last it all burst into flame, the old bird 
was burnt to ashes, but his egg lay glowing in the fire, 
it broke with a loud bang and the young one flew out. 
Now it rules over all the birds, and it is the only 
phoenix in the world. He bit a hole in the leaf I gave 
you, that is his greeting to the Princess.” 

“Let us have something to eat now !” said the mother 
of the winds; and they all sat down to eat the 
roast stag, and the Prince sat by the side of the East- 
wind, so they soon became good friends. 

“I say,” said the Prince, “just tell me who is this 
Princess, and where is the Garden of Paradise?” 

29 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


‘ ‘ Oh, ho ! ’ ’ said the Eastwind, * i if that is where you 
want to go you must fly with me to-morrow. But I 
may as well tell you that no human being has been there 
since Adam and Eve’s time. You know all about them, 
I suppose, from your Bible stories !” 

“Of course,” said the Prince. 

“When they were driven away the Garden of Eden 
sank into the ground, but it kept its warm sunshine, 
its mild air, and all its charms. The queen of the 
fairies lives there. The Island of Bliss, where death 
never enters, and where living is a delight, is there. 
Get on my back to-morrow and I will take you with 
me; I think I can manage it! But you mustn’t talk 
now, I want to go to sleep. ’ ’ 

When the Prince woke up in the early morning he 
was not a little surprised to find that he was already 
high above the clouds. He was sitting on the back of 
the Eastwind, who was holding him carefully! they 
were so high up that woods and fields, rivers and lakes, 
looked like a large colored map. 

“Good-morning,” said the Eastwind. “You may 
as well sleep a little longer, for there is not much to be 
seen in this flat country below us, unless you want to 
count the churches. They look like chalk dots on the 
green board.” 

He called the fields and meadows “the green board.” 

“It was very rude of me to leave without saying 
good-by to your mother and brothers,” said the Prince. 

“One is excused when one is asleep!” said the East- 
wind, and they flew on faster than ever. You could 
30 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


mark their flight by the rustling of the trees as they 
passed over the woods; and whenever they crossed a 
lake, or the sea, the waves rose and the great ships 
dipped low down in the water, like floating swans. 
Towards evening the large towns were amusing as it 
grew dark, with all their lights twinkling now here, 
now there, just as when one burns a piece of paper and 
sees all the little sparks like children coming home 
from school. The Prince clapped his hands, but the 
Eastwind told him he had better leave off and hold 
tight, or he might fall and find himself hanging on to 
a church steeple. 

The eagle in the great forest flew swiftly, but the 
Eastwind flew more swiftly still. The Kossack on his 
little horse sped fast over the plains, but the Prince 
sped faster still. 

“Now you can see the Himalayas V 9 said the East- 
wind. “They are the highest mountains in Asia; we 
shall soon reach the Garden of Paradise.’ ’ 

They took a more southerly direction, and the air 
became scented with spices and flowers. Figs and 
pomegranates grew wild, and the wild vines were cov- 
ered with blue and green grapes. They both descended 
here and stretched themselves on the soft grass, where 
the flowers nodded to the wind, as much as to say, 
“Welcome back.” 

“Are we in the Garden of Paradise now?” asked the 
Prince. 

“No, certainly not ! 9 9 answered the Eastwind. ‘ ‘ But 
we shall soon be there. Do you see that wall of rock 
31 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and the great cavern where the wild vine hangs like a 
big curtain? We have to go through there! Wrap 
yourself up in your cloak, the sun is burning here, 
but a step further on it is icy cold. The bird which 
flies past the cavern has one wing out here in the 
heat of summer, and the other is there in the cold of 
winter.” 

“So that is the way to the Garden of Paradise!” 
said the Prince. 

Now they entered the cavern. Oh, how icily cold it 
was, but it did not last long. The Eastwind spread his 
wings, and they shone like the brightest flame ; but what 
a cave it was ! Large blocks of stone, from which the 
water dripped, hung over them in the most extraordi- 
nary shapes ; at one moment it was so low and narrow 
that they had to crawl on hands and knees, the next 
it was as wide and lofty as if they were in the open 
air. It looked like a chapel of the dead, with mute 
organ pipes and petrified banners. 

“We seem to be journeying along Death’s road to 
the Garden of Paradise !” said the Prince, but the East- 
wind never answered a word, he only pointed before 
them where a beautiful blue light was shining. The 
blocks of stone above them grew dimmer and dimmer, 
and at last they became as transparent as a white cloud 
in the moonshine. The air was also deliciously soft, 
as fresh as on the mountain tops and as scented as 
down among the roses in the valley. 

A river ran there as clear as the air itself, and the 
fish in it were like gold and silver. Purple eels, which 
32 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


gave out blue sparks with every curve, gamboled about 
in the water; and the broad leaves of the water-lilies 
were tinged with the hues of the rainbow, while the 
flower itself was like a fiery orange flame, nourished 
by the water, just as oil keeps a lamp constantly burn- 
ing. A firm bridge of marble as delicately and skill- 
fully carved as if it were lace and glass beads led over 
the water to the Island of Bliss, where the Garden of 
Paradise bloomed. 

The Eastwind took the Prince in his arms and bore 
him over. The flowers and leaves there sang all the 
beautiful old songs of his childhood, but sang them 
more wonderfully than any human voice could sing 
them. 

Were these palm trees or giant water plants growing 
here ? The Prince had never seen such rich and mighty 
trees. The most wonderful climbing plants hung in 
wreaths, such as are only to be found in gold and 
colors on the margins of old books of the Saints or en- 
twined among their initial letters. It was the most 
extraordinary combination of birds, flowers, and 
scrolls. 

Close by on the grass stood a flock of peacocks with 
their brilliant tails outspread. Yes, indeed, it seemed 
so, but when the Prince touched them he saw that they 
were not birds but plants. They were big dock leaves, 
which shone like peacock’s tails. Lions and tigers 
sprang like agile cats among the green hedges, which 
were scented with the blossom of the olive, and the lion 
and tiger were tame. The wild dove, glistening like 
33 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

a pearl, beat the lion’s mane with his wings; and the 
antelope, otherwise so shy, stood by nodding, just as 
if he wanted to join the game. 

The Fairy of the Garden now advanced to meet them ; 
her garments shone like the sun, and her face beamed 
like that of a happy mother rejoicing over her child. 
She was young and very beautiful, and was surrounded 
by a band of lovely girls, each with a gleaming star in 
her hair. 

When the Eastwind gave her the inscribed leaf from 
the Phoenix her eyes sparkled with delight. She took 
the Prince’s hand and led him into her palace, where 
the walls were the color of the brightest tulips in the 
sunlight. The ceiling was one great shining flower, 
and the longer one gazed into it the deeper the calyx 
seemed to be. The Prince went to the window, and 
looking through one of the panes saw the Tree of 
Knowledge, with the serpent, and Adam and Eve 
standing by. 

4 4 Are they not driven out?” he asked, and the Fairy 
smiled and explained that Time had burned a picture 
into each pane, but not of the kind one usually sees; 
they were alive, the leaves moved, and people came 
and went like the reflections in a mirror. 

Then he looked through another pane, and he saw 
Jacob’s dream, with the ladder going straight up into 
heaven, and angels with great wings were fluttering 
up and down. All that had ever happened in this 
world lived and moved on these window panes; only 
Time could imprint such wonderful pictures. 

34 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


The Fairy smiled and led him into a large, lofty 
room, the walls of which were like transparent paint- 
ings of faces, one more beautiful than the other. 
These were millions of the Blessed who smiled and 
sang, and all their songs melted into one perfect 
melody. The highest ones were so tiny that they 
seemed smaller than the very smallest rosebud, no 
bigger than a pinpoint in a drawing. In the middle 
of the room stood a large tree, with handsome droop- 
ing branches ; golden apples hung like oranges among 
its green leaves. It was the Tree of Knowledge, of 
whose fruit Adam and Eve had eaten. From every 
leaf hung a shining red drop of dew, it was as if the 
tree wept tears of blood. 

“Now let us get into the boat, ,, said the Fairy. 
“We shall find refreshment on the swelling waters. 
The boat rocks, but it does not move from the spot, 
all the countries of the world will pass before our 
eyes.” 

It was a curious sight to see the whole coast move. 
Here came lofty snow-clad Alps, with their clouds and 
dark fir trees. The horn echoed sadly among them, 
and the shepherd yodelled sweetly in the valleys. Then 
banian trees bent their long drooping branches over 
the boat, black swans floated on the water, and the 
strangest animals and flowers appeared on the shore. 
This was New Holland, the fifth portion of the world, 
which glided past them with a view of its blue moun- 
tains. They heard the song of priests, and saw the 
dances of the savages to the sound of drums and pipes 
35 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


of bone. The pyramids of Egypt reaching to the 
clouds, with fallen columns, and Sphynxes half buried 
in sand, next sailed past them. Then came the Aurora 
Borealis blazing over the peaks of the north; they 
were fireworks which could not be imitated. The 
Prince was so happy, and he saw a hundred times more 
than we have described. 

“Can I stay here always 1 ’ ’ he asked. 

“That depends upon yourself ,’ 9 answered the Fairy. 
“If you do not, like Adam, allow yourself to be 
tempted to do what is forbidden, you can stay here 
always.” 

“I will not touch the apples on the Tree of Knowl- 
edge, ’ 9 said the Prince. 1 ‘ There are thousands of other 
fruits here as beautiful.” 

“Test yourself, and if you are not strong enough, 
go back with the Eastwind who brought you. He is 
going away now, and will not come back for a hundred 
years; the time will fly in this place like a hundred 
hours, but that is a long time for temptation and sin. 
Every evening when I leave you I must say ‘Come 
with me,’ and I must beckon to you, but stay behind. 
Do not come with me, for with every step you take 
your longing will grow stronger. You will reach the 
hall where grows the Tree of Knowledge. I sleep 
beneath its fragrant drooping branches. You will 
bend over me and I must smile, but if you press a kiss 
upon my lips, Paradise will sink deep down into the 
earth, and it will be lost to you. The sharp winds of 
the wilderness will whistle round you, the cold rain 
36 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


will drop from your hair. Sorrow and labor will be 
your lot.” 

“I will remain here!” said the Prince. 

And the Eastwind kissed him on the mouth and said : 
“Be strong, then we shall meet again in a hundred 
years. Farewell! Farewell!” and the Eastwind 
spread his great wings, they shone like poppies at the 
harvest time, or the Northern Lights in a cold winter. 

“Good-by! Good-by!” whispered the flowers. 
Storks and pelicans flew in a line like waving ribbons, 
conducting him to the boundaries of the Garden. 

“Now we begin our dancing!” said the Fairy; “at 
the end when I dance with you, as the sun goes down 
you will see me beckon to you and cry ‘Come with me’; 
but do not come. I have to repeat it every night for 
a hundred years. Every time you resist you will grow 
stronger, and at last you will not even think of follow- 
ing. To-night is the first time. Remember my warn- 
ing ! ’ ’ 

And the Fairy led him into a large hall of white 
transparent lilies, the yellow stamens in each formed 
a little golden harp which echoed the sound of strings 
and flutes. Lovely girls, slender and lissom, dressed 
in floating gauze which revealed their exquisite limbs, 
glided in the dance, and sang of the joy of living— 
that they would never die — and that the Garden of 
Paradise would bloom forever. 

The sun went down and the sky was bathed in golden 
light which gave the lilies the effect of roses ; and the 
Prince drank of the foaming wine handed to him by 
37 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the maidens. He felt such joy as he had never known 
before; he saw the background of the hall opening 
where the Tree of Knowledge stood in a radiancy which 
blinded him. The song proceeding from it was soft 
and lovely, like his mother’s voice, and she seemed to 
say, ‘ i My child, my beloved child ! ’ 9 

Then the Fairy beckoned to him and said so tenderly, 
“Come with me,” that he rushed towards her, forget- 
ting his promise, forgetting everything on the very 
first evening that she smiled and beckoned to him. 

The fragrance in the scented air around grew 
stronger, the harps sounded sweeter than ever, and 
it seemed as if the millions of smiling heads in the hall 
where the Tree grew, nodded and sang, “One must 
know everything. Man is lord of the earth.” They 
were no longer tears of blood which fell from the Tree, 
it seemed to him that they were red shining stars. 

“Come with me, come with me,” spoke those trem- 
bling tones, and at every step the Prince’s cheeks burnt 
hotter and hotter and his blood coursed more rapidly. 

“I must go,” he said, “it is no sin, I must see her 
asleep, nothing will be lost if I do not kiss her, and that 
I will not do. My will is strong. ’ ’ 

The Fairy dropped her shimmering garment, drew 
back the branches, and a moment after was hidden 
within their depths. 

“I have not sinned yet!” said the Prince, “nor will 
I,” then he drew back the branches. There she lay 
asleep already, beautiful as only the Fairy in the 
Garden of Paradise can be. She smiled in her dreams ; 
38 


© Cl. K 1 1353(5 

SFP IP IPI7 



























































♦ 

























ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


lie bent over her and saw the tears welling up under 
her eyelashes. 

4 ‘ Do you weep for me ? 1 9 he whispered. i ‘Weep not, 
beautiful maiden. I only now understand the full bliss 
of Paradise; it surges through my blood and through 
my thoughts. I feel the strength of the angels and of 
everlasting life in my mortal limbs ! If it were to be 
everlasting night to me, a moment like this were worth 
it!” and he kissed away the tears from her eyes; his 
mouth touched hers. 

Then came a sound like thunder, louder and more 
awful than any he had ever heard before, and every- 
thing around collapsed. The beautiful Fairy, the flow- 
ery Paradise sank deeper and deeper. The Prince saw 
it sink into the darkness of night ; it shone far off like 
a tiny twinkling star. The chill of death crept over 
his limbs ; he closed his eyes and lay long as if dead. 

The cold rain fell on his face, and the sharp wind 
blew around his head, and at last his memory came 
back. “What have I done?” he sighed. “I have 
sinned like Adam, sinned so heavily that Paradise has 
sunk low beneath the earth!” And he opened his 
eyes; he could still see the star, the far away star, 
which twinkled like Paradise ; it was the morning star 
in the sky. He got up and found himself in the wood 
near the cave of the winds, and the mother of the winds 
sat by his side. She looked angry and raised her hand. 

‘ 1 So soon as the first evening ! ’ ’ she said. ‘ ‘ I thought 
as much ; if you were my boy, you should go into the 
bag!” 


39 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“Ah, he shall soon go there !” said Death. He was 
a strong old man, with a scythe in his hand and great 
black wings. ‘ * He shall be laid in a coffin, but not now ; 
I only mark him and then leave him for a time to 
wander about on the earth to expiate his sin and to 
grow better. I will come some time. When he least 
expects me, I shall come back, lay him in a black coffin, 
put it on my head, and fly to the skies. The Garden of 
Paradise blooms there too, and if he is good and holy 
he shall enter into it; but if his thoughts are wicked 
and his heart still full of sin, he will sink deeper in 
his coffin than Paradise sank, and I shall only go once 
in every thousand years to see if he is to sink deeper 
or to rise to the stars, the twinkling stars up there. ’ ’ 


40 


THE STORKS 


A STORK had built his nest on the roof of the last 
house in a little town. The mother-stork was sit- 
ting on the nest with her little ones, who stuck out their 
little black beaks, which had not turned red yet. The 
father stork stood a little way off on the ridge of the 
roof, erect and stiff, with one leg drawn up under him, 
so as at least to be at some trouble while standing 
sentry. One might have thought he was carved out 
of wood, he stood so still ! 

‘ ‘ It will look so grand for my wife to have a sentry 
on guard by the nest!” he thought. “ People won’t 
know that I am her husband. I daresay they think I 
have orders to stand there — it looks smart!” and so 
he remained standing on one leg. 

A party of children were playing in the street, and 
when they saw the stork, one of the boldest boys, fol- 
lowed by the others, sang the old song about the storks, 
but he sang it just as it came into his head, — 

“Oh! father stork, father stork, fly to your nest, 

Three featherless fledglings await your return. 

The first of your chicks shall be stuck through the breast 
The second shall hang and the third shall burn.” 

“Hark! what are the boys singing?” said the little 
storks ; “they say we are to be hanged and burnt !” 

“Don’t bother your heads about them!” said the 

41 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


mother stork; “ don’t listen to them and then it won’t 
do you any harm. ’ ’ 

But the boys went on singing and pointing their 
fingers at the storks; only one boy, whose name was 
Peter, said that it was a shame to make fun of crea- 
tures and he would take no part in it. 

The mother bird confronted her little ones saying, 
‘ ‘ Do not trouble yourselves about it, look at your father 
how quietly he stands, and on one leg too ! ’ 9 

“But we are so frightened,” said the young ones, 
burying their heads in the nest. 

The next day when the children came back to play 
and they saw the storks they began their old song, — 

“The first of your chicks shall be stuck through the breast, 

The second shall hang and the third shall burn.” 

“Are we to be hanged and burnt?” asked the little 
storks. 

“No, certainly not!” said the mother; “you are to 
learn to fly, see if I don’t drill you, then we will go into 
the fields and visit the frogs ; they curtsey in the water 
to us and sing ‘Koax, Koax,’ and then we gobble them 
up; that’s a treat if you like!” 

“And what next?” asked the young ones. 

“Oh, then all the storks in the country assemble for 
the autumn maneuvers, and you will have to fly your 
best, for the one who cannot fly will be run through the 
body by the general’s beak, so you must take good care 
to learn something when the drills begin.” 

“After all then we may be staked just as the boys 
said, and listen, they are singing it again now ! ’ ’ 

42 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Listen to me and not to them,” said the mother 
stork. “After the grand maneuvers we shall fly away 
to the warm countries, ever such a way off, over the 
woods and mountains. We go to Egypt where they 
have houses with three-cornered sides, the points of 
which reach above the clouds; they are called Pyra- 
mids, and they are older than any stork can remember. 
Then there is a river which overflows its banks and all 
the land round turns to mud. You walk about in mud 
devouring frogs.” 

“ Oh ! ” said all the young ones. 

“Yes, it is splendid, you do nothing but eat all day; 
while w T e are so well off there, there is not a leaf on 
the trees in this country, and it is so cold that the 
clouds freeze all to pieces and fall down in little bits.” 

She meant snow, but did not know how to describe 
it any better. 

“Do the naughty boys freeze to pieces!” asked the 
young storks. 

“No, they don’t freeze to pieces, but they come very 
near to it and have to sit moping in dark rooms ; you, 
on the other hand, fly about in strange countries, in the 
warm sunshine among flowers . 9 9 

Some time passed and the little ones were big enough 
to stand up in the nest and look about them. The 
father stork flew backwards and forwards every day, 
with nice frogs and little snakes, and every kind of 
delicacy he could find. It was so funny to see the 
tricks he did to amuse them; he would turn his head 
right round on to his tail, and he would clatter with 
43 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


his beak, as if it was a rattle. And then he told them 
all the stories he had heard in the swamps. 

‘ 4 Well, now you must learn to fly,” said the mother 
stork one day ; and all the young ones had to stand on 
the ridge of the roof. Oh, how they wobbled about 
trying to keep their balance with their wings, and how 
nearly they fell down. 

“Now look at me,” said the mother; “this is how 
you must hold your heads ! And move your legs so ! 
one, two, one, two, this will help you to get on in the 
world. ’ ’ 

Then she flew a little way, and the young ones made 
a clumsy little hop, and down they came with a hump, 
for their bodies were too heavy. 

“I don’t want to fly,” said one of the young ones, 
creeping down into the nest again. “I don’t care 
about going to the warm countries.” 

“Do you want to freeze to death here when the 
winter comes ? Shall the boys come and hang or burn 
or stake you? I will soon call them!” 

“No, no,” said the young one, hopping out upon 
the roof again, just like the others. 

By the third day they could all fly fairly well; then 
they thought they could hover in the air, too, and they 
tried it, hut flop ! — they soon found they had to move 
their wings again. 

Then the hoys began their song again, — 

“Oh! father stork, father stork, fly to your nest.” 

“Shall we fly down and pick their eyes out?” asked 
the young ones. 


44 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“No, leave them alone,’ ’ said their mother; “only 
pay attention to me, that is much more important. 
One, two, three, now we fly to the right ; one, two, three, 
now to the left, and round the chimney ! that was good. 
That last stroke of the wings was so pretty and the 
flap so well done that I will allow you to go to the 
swamp with me to-morrow! Several nice storks go 
there with their children; now just let me see that 
mine are the nicest. Don’t forget to carry your heads 
high; it looks well, and gives you an air of impor- 
tance.” 

“But are we not to have our revenge on the naughty 
boys?” asked the young storks. 

“Let them scream as much as they like; you will fly 
away with the clouds to the land of the pyramids, 
while they will perhaps be freezing. There won’t be a 
green leaf or a sweet apple here then!” 

“But we will have our revenge!” they whispered to 
each other, and then they began their drilling again. 

Of all the boys in the street, not one was worse at 
making fun of the storks than he who first began the 
derisive song. He was a tiny little fellow, not more 
than six years old. It is true, the young storks 
thought he was at least a hundred, for he was so much 
bigger than their father and mother, and they had no 
idea how old children and grown-up people could be. 
They reserved all their vengeance for the boy who first 
began to tease them, and who never would leave off. 
The young storks were frightfully irritated by the teas- 
ing, and the older they grew the less they would stand 
45 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


it. At last their mother was obliged to promise that 
they should have their revenge, but not till the last 
day before they left. 

“We shall first have to see how you behave at the 
maneuvers ! If you come to grief and the general has 
to run you through the breast with his beak, the boys 
will after all be right, at least in one way! Now let 
us see!” 

“That you shall!” said the young ones; and didn’t 
they take pains? They practiced every day, till they 
could fly as lightly as any feather ; it was quite a pleas- 
ure to watch them. 

Then came the autumn; all the storks began to as- 
semble, before they started on their flight to the warm 
countries, where they spend their winters. 

Those were indeed maneuvers! They had to fly 
over woods and towns, to try their wings, because they 
had such a long journey before them. The young 
storks did everything so well that they got no end of 
frogs and snakes as prizes. They had the best charac- 
ters, and then they could eat the frogs and snakes aft- 
erwards, which you may be sure they did. 

“Now we shall have our revenge!” they said. 

“Yes, certainly,” said the mother stork. “My plan 
is this, and I think it is the right one ! I know the pond 
where all the little human babies lie, till the storks 
fetch them, and give them to their parents. The 
pretty little creatures lie there asleep, dreaming sweet 
dreams, sweeter than any they ever dream afterwards. 
Every parent wishes for such a little baby, and every 
46 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


child wants a baby brother or sister. Now we fly to 
the pond and fetch a little brother or sister for each 
of those children who did not join in singing that hor- 
rid song, or in making fun of the storks. But those 
who sang it shall not have one.” 

“But what about that bad wicked boy who first be- 
gan the song!” shrieked the young storks; “what is to 
be done to him?” 

“In the pond there is a little dead baby; it has 
dreamed itself to death; we will take it to him, and 
then he will cry, because we have brought him a little 
dead brother. But you have surely not forgotten the 
good boy, who said, ‘It is a shame to make fun of the 
creatures!’ We will take both a brother and a sister 
to him, and because his name is Peter, you shall all be 
called Peter too.” 

It happened just as she said, and all the storks are 
called Peter to this day. 


47 


THE UGLY DUCKLING 


T HE country was lovely just then; it was summer. 

The wheat was golden and the oats still green; 
the hay was stacked in the rich low-lying meadows, 
where the stork was marching about on his long red 
legs, chattering Egyptian, the language his mother had 
taught him. 

Eound about field and meadow lay great woods, in 
the midst of which were deep lakes. Yes, the country 
certainly was delicious. In the sunniest spot stood an 
old mansion surrounded by a deep moat, and great 
dock leaves grew from the walls of the house right 
down to the water’s edge; some of them were so tall 
that a small child could stand upright under them. In 
amongst the leaves it was as secluded as in the depths 
of a forest ; and there a duck was sitting on her nest. 
Her little ducklings were just about to be hatched, but 
she was nearly tired of sitting, for it had lasted such a 
long time. Moreover, she had very few visitors, as 
the other ducks liked swimming about in the moat bet- 
ter than waddling up to sit under the dock leaves and 
gossip with her. 

At last one egg after another began to crack. 
“Cheep, cheep!” they said. All the chicks had come 
to life, and were poking their heads out. 

48 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Quack! quack !” said the duck; and then they all 
quacked their hardest, and looked about them on all 
sides among the green leaves; their mother allowed 
them to look as much as they liked, for green is good 
for the eyes. 

“How big the world is, to be sure! ,, said all the 
young ones ; for they certainly had ever so much more 
room to move about than when they were inside in the 
egg .shell. 

“Do you imagine this is the whole world ?” said the 
mother. “It stretches a long way on the other side of 
the garden, right into the parson’s field; but I have 
never been as far as that ! I suppose you are all here 
now?” and she got up. “No! I declare I have not 
got you all yet! The biggest egg is still there; how 
long is it going to last?” and she settled herself on the 
nest again. 

“Well, how are you getting on?” said an old duck 
who had come to pay her a visit. 

“This one egg is taking such a long time,” answered 
the sitting duck, “the shell will not crack; but now you 
must look at the others ; they are the finest ducklings I 
have ever seen ! they are all exactly like their father, 
the rascal! he never comes to see me.” 

“Let me look at the egg which won’t crack,” said 
the old duck. “You may be sure that it is a turkey’s 
egg ! I have been cheated like that once, and I had no 
end of trouble and worry with the creatures, for I may 
tell you that they are afraid of the water. I could not 
get them into it ; I quacked and snapped at them, but 
49 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


it was no good. Let me see the egg! Yes, it is a tur- 
key’s egg! You just leave it alone and teach the other 
children to swim . 7 9 

“I will sit on it a little longer; I have sat so long 
already, that I may as well go on till the Midsummer 
Fair comes round.” 

4 4 Please yourself,” said the old duck, and she went 
away. 

At last the big egg cracked. 4 4 Cheep, cheep!” said 
the young one and tumbled out; how big and ugly he 
was ! The duck looked at him. 

4 4 That is a monstrous big duckling,” she said; 4 4 none 
of the others looked like that; can he be a turkey chick? 
Well, we shall soon find that out; into the water he 
shall go, if I have to kick him in myself . 9 9 

Next day was gloriously fine, and the sun shone on 
all the green dock leaves. The mother duck with her 
whole family went down to the moat. 

Splash, into the water she sprang. 4 4 Quack, 
quack!” she said, and one duckling plumped in after 
the other. The water dashed over their heads, but 
they came up again and floated beautifully ; their legs 
went of themselves, and they were all there ; even the 
big ugly gray one swam about with them. 

4 4 No, that is no turkey,” she said; 4 4 see how beau- 
tifully he uses his legs and how erect he holds himself : 
he is my own chick ! after all, he is not so bad when you 
come to look at him properly. Quack, quack! Now 
come with me and I will take you into the world, and 
introduce you to the duckyard; but keep close to me 
5Q 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


all the time, so that no one may tread upon you, and 
beware of the cat!” 

Then they went into the duckyard. There was a 
fearful uproar going on, for two broods were fighting 
for the head of an eel, and in the end the cat captured 
it. 

“That’s how things go in this world,” said the 
mother duck, and she licked her bill, for she wanted the 
eel ’s head herself. 

“Use your legs,” said she; “mind you quack prop- 
erly, and bend your necks to the old duck over there ! 
She is the grandest of them all ; she has Spanish blood 
in her veins and that accounts for her size, and, do you 
see? she has a red rag round her leg; that is a won- 
derfully fine thing, and the most extraordinary mark 
of distinction any duck can have. It shows clearly 
that she is not to be parted with, and that she is 
worthy of recognition both by beasts and men ! Quack 
now! don’t turn your toes in; a well brought up 
duckling keeps his legs wide apart just like father 
and mother; that’s it, now bend your necks, and say 
quack!” 

They did as they were bid, but the other ducks round 
about looked at them and said, quite loud: “Just look 
there ! now we are to have that tribe ! just as if there 
were not enough of us already, and, oh, dear ! how ugly 
that duckling is; we won’t stand him!” and a duck 
flew at him at once and bit him in the neck. 

“Let him be,” said the mother; “he is doing no 
harm.” 


51 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Very likely not, but he is so ungainly and queer,’ ’ 
said the biter; “he must be whacked.” 

“They are handsome children mother has,” said the 
old duck with the rag round her leg; “all good looking 
except this one, and he is not a good specimen; it’s a 
pity you can’t make him over again.” 

“That can’t be done, your grace,” said the mother 
duck; “he is not handsome, but he is a thorough good 
creature, and he swims as beautifully as any of the 
others ; nay, I think I might venture even to add that I 
think he will improve as he goes on, or perhaps in time 
he may grow smaller! He was too long in the egg, 
and so he has not come out with a very good figure.” 
And then she patted his neck and stroked him down. 
“Besides he is a drake,” said she; “so it does not mat- 
ter so much. I believe he will be very strong, and I 
don’t doubt but he will make his way in the world.” 

“The other ducklings are very pretty,” said the old 
duck. “Now make yourselves quite at home, and if 
you find the head of an eel you may bring it to me !” 

After that they felt quite at home. But the poor 
duckling which had been the last to come out of the 
shell, and who was so ugly, was bitten, pushed about, 
and made fun of both by the ducks and the hens. “He 
is too big,” they all said; and the turkey-cock, who 
was born with his spurs on, and therefore thought him- 
self quite an emperor, puffed himself up like a vessel 
in full sail, made for him, and gobbled and gobbled till 
he became quite red in the face. The poor duckling 
was at his wit’s end, and did not know which way to 
52 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


turn; he was in despair because he was so ugly, and 
the butt of the whole duckyard. 

So the first day passed, and afterwards matters grew 
worse and worse. The poor duckling was chased and 
hustled by all of them; even his brothers and sisters 
ill-used him; and they were always saying, “If only 
the cat would get hold of you, you hideous object !” 
Even his mother said, “I wish to goodness you were 
miles away . 9 1 The ducks bit him, the hens pecked him, 
and the girl who fed them kicked him aside. 

Then he ran off and flew right over the hedge, where 
the little birds flew up into the air in a fright. 

“That is because I am so ugly,” thought the poor 
duckling, shutting his eyes, but he ran on all the same. 
Then he came to a great marsh where the wild ducks 
lived; he was so tired and miserable that he stayed 
there the whole night. 

In the morning the wild ducks flew up to inspect 
their new comrade. 

“What sort of a creature are you!” they inquired, 
as the duckling turned from side to side and greeted 
them as well as he could. “You are frightfully ugly,” 
said the wild ducks, “but that does not matter to us, 
so long as you do not marry into our family!” Poor 
fellow ! he had not thought of marriage ; all he wanted 
was permission to lie among the rushes, and to drink 
a little of the marsh water. 

He stayed there two whole days, then two wild geese 
came, or rather two wild ganders ; they were not long 
out of the shell, and therefore rather pert. 

53 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“I say, comrade,” they said, “you are so ugly that 
we have taken quite a fancy to you; will you join us 
and be a bird of passage? There is another marsh 
close by, and there are some charming wild geese 
there; all sweet young ladies, who can say quack! 
You are ugly enough to make your fortune among 
them.” Just at that moment, bang! bang! was heard 
up above, and both the wild geese fell dead among the 
reeds, and the water turned blood red. Bang! bang! 
went the guns, and whole flocks of wild geese flew up 
from the rushes and the shot peppered among them 
again. 

There was a grand shooting party, and the sports- 
men lay hidden round the marsh; some even sat on 
the branches of the trees which overhung the water; 
the blue smoke rose like clouds among the dark trees 
and swept over the pool. 

The water-dogs wandered about in the swamp, 
splash! splash! The rushes and reeds bent beneath 
their tread on all sides. It was terribly alarming to 
the poor duckling. He twisted his head round to get 
it under his wing, and just at that moment a frightful, 
big dog appeared close beside him; his tongue hung 
right out of his mouth and his eyes glared wickedly. 
He opened his great chasm of a mouth close to the 
duckling, showed his sharp teeth — and — splash — went 
on without touching him. 

“Oh, thank Heaven!” sighed the duckling, “I am so 
ugly that even the dog won’t bite me!” 

Then he lay quite still while the shot whistled among 

54 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the bushes, and bang after bang rent the air. It only 
became quiet late in the day, but even then the poor 
duckling did not dare to get up; he waited several 
hours more before he looked about, and then he hurried 
away from the marsh as fast as he could. He ran 
across fields and meadows, and there was such a wind 
that he had hard work to make his way. 

Towards night he reached a poor little cottage; it 
was such a miserable hovel that it could not make up 
its mind which way to fall even, and so it remained 
standing. The wind whistled so fiercely round the 
duckling that he had to sit on his tail to resist it, and 
it blew harder and harder; then he saw that the door 
had fallen off one hinge and hung so crookedly that 
he could creep into the house through the crack, and 
by this means he made his way into the room. An 
old woman lived there with her cat and her hen. 
The cat, which she called “Sonnie,” could arch 
his back, purr, and give off electric sparks, that is 
to say if you stroked his fur the wrong way. The 
hen had quite tiny short legs, and so she was called 
“Chuckie-low-legs.” She laid good eggs, and the old 
woman was as fond of her as if she had been her own 
child. 

In the morning the strange duckling was discovered 
immediately, and the cat began to purr, and the hen 
to cluck. 

“What on earth is that!” said the old woman, look- 
ing round, but her sight was not good, and she thought 
the duckling was a fat duck which had escaped. “ This 
55 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


is a capital find,” said she; “now I shall have duck’s 
eggs if only it is not a drake ! we must find out about 
that!” 

So she took the duckling on trial for three weeks, 
but no eggs made their appearance. The cat was the 
master of the house and the hen the mistress, and they 
always spoke of “we and the world,” for they thought 
that they represented the half of the world, and that 
quite the better half. 

The duckling thought there might he two opinions on 
the subject, but the cat would not hear of it. 

“Can you lay eggs!” she asked. 

“No!” 

“Will you have the goodness to hold your tongue 
then ! ’ 9 

And the cat said, “Can you arch your back, purr, or 
give off sparks!” 

“No.” 

“Then you had better keep your opinions to yourself 
when people of sense are speaking!” 

The duckling sat in the corner nursing his ill-humor ; 
then he began to think of the fresh air and the sun- 
shine, an uncontrollable longing seized him to float on 
the watef , and at last he could not help telling the hen 
about it. 

“What on earth possesses you!” she asked; “you 
have nothing to do, that is why you get these freaks 
into your head. Lay some eggs or take to purring, 
and you will get over it . 9 9 

“But it is so delicious to float on the water,” said 

56 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the duckling ; ‘ ‘ so delicious to feel it rushing over your 
head when you dive to the bottom. ’ ’ 

“That would be a fine amusement,’ ’ said the hen. 
“I think you have gone mad. Ask the cat about it ; he 
is the wisest creature I know; ask him if he is fond of 
floating on the water or diving under it. I say nothing 
about myself. Ask our mistress yourself, the old 
woman ; there is no one in the world cleverer than she 
is. Do you suppose she has any desire to float on the 
water, or to duck underneath it?” 

“You do not understand me,” said the duckling. 

“Well, if we don’t understand you, who should? I 
suppose you don’t consider yourself cleverer than the 
cat or the old woman, not to mention me. Don’t make 
a fool of yourself, child, and thank your stars for all 
the good we have done you! Have you not lived in 
this warm room, and in such society that you might 
have learnt something? But you are an idiot, and 
there is no pleasure in associating with you. You may 
believe me I mean you well, I tell you home truths, and 
there is no surer way than that of knowing who are 
one’s friends. You just see about laying some eggs, 
or learn to purr, or to emit sparks.” 

‘ ‘ I think I will go out into the wide world, ’ ’ said the 
duckling. 

“Oh, do so by all means,” said the hen. 

So away went the duckling; he floated on the water 
and ducked underneath it, but he was looked askance 
at by every living creature for his ugliness. Now the 
autumn came on ; the leaves in the woods turned yellow 
57 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and brown; the wind took hold of them, and they 
danced about. The sky looked very cold, and the 
clouds hung heavy with snow and hail. A raven stood 
on the fence and croaked Caw ! caw ! from sheer cold ; 
it made one shiver only to think of it; the poor duck- 
ling certainly was in a bad case. 

One evening, the sun was just setting in wintry 
splendor, when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared 
out of the bushes; the duckling had never seen any- 
thing so beautiful. They were dazzlingly white with 
long waving necks; they were swans, and uttering a 
peculiar cry they spread out their magnificent broad 
wings and flew away from the cold regions to warmer 
lands and open seas. They mounted so high, so very 
high, and the ugly little duckling became strangely un- 
easy; he circled round and round in the water like a 
wheel, craning his neck up into the air after them. 
Then he uttered a shriek so piercing and so strange, 
that he was quite frightened by it himself. Oh, he 
could not forget those beautiful birds, those happy 
birds, and as soon as they were out of sight he ducked 
right down to the bottom, and when he came up again 
he was quite beside himself. He did not know what 
the birds were, or whether they flew, but all the same 
he was more drawn towards them than he had ever 
been by any creatures before. He did not envy them 
in the least ; how could it occur to him even to wish to 
be such a marvel of beauty? He would have been 
thankful if only the ducks would have tolerated him 
among them — the poor ugly creature ! 

58 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling was 
obliged to swim about in the water to keep it from 
freezing, but every night the hole in which he swam 
got smaller and smaller. Then it froze so hard that 
the surface ice cracked, and the duckling had to use his 
legs all the time, so that the ice should not close in 
round him ; at last he was so weary that he could move 
no more, and he was frozen fast into the ice. 

Early in the morning a peasant came along and saw 
him ; he went out onto the ice and hammered a hole in 
it with his heavy wooden shoe, and carried the duckling 
home to his wife. There it soon revived. The chil- 
dren wanted to play with it, but the duckling thought 
they were going to ill-use him, and rushed in his fright 
into the milk pan, and the milk spurted out all over the 
room. The woman shrieked and threw up her hands ; 
then it flew into the butter cask, and down into the meal 
tub and out again. Just imagine what it looked like 
by this time ! The woman screamed and tried to hit it 
with the tongs, and the children tumbled over one an- 
other in trying to catch it, and they screamed with 
laughter — by good luck the door stood open, and the 
duckling flew out among the bushes and the new fallen 
snow — and it lay there thoroughly exhausted. 

But it would be too sad to mention all the privation 
and misery it had to go through during that hard win- 
ter. When the sun began to shine warmly again, the 
duckling was in the marsh, lying among the rushes ; the 
larks were singing and the beautiful spring had come. 

Then all at once it raised its wings and they flapped 

59 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


with much greater strength than before, and bore him 
off vigorously. Before he knew where he was, he 
found himself in a large garden where the apple trees 
were in full blossom, and the air was scented with 
lilacs, the long branches of which overhung the in- 
dented shores of the lake! Oh! the spring freshness 
was so delicious ! 

Just in front of him he saw three beautiful white 
swans advancing towards him from a thicket ; with rus- 
tling feathers they swam lightly over the water. The 
duckling recognized the majestic birds, and he was 
overcome by a strange melancholy. 

“I will fly to them, the royal birds, and they will hack 
me to pieces, because I, who am so ugly, venture to ap- 
proach them! But it won’t matter; better be killed 
by them than be snapped at by the ducks, pecked by the 
hens, or spurned by the henwife, or suffer so much 
misery in the winter. ’ ’ 

So he flew into the water and swam towards the 
stately swans ; they saw him and darted towards him 
with ruffled feathers. 

“Kill me, oh, kill me! ,> said the poor creature, and 
bowing his head towards the water he awaited his 
death. But what did he see reflected in the transpar- 
ent water? 

He saw below him his own image, but he was no 
longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly; he 
was himself a swan! It does not matter in the least 
having been born in a duckyard, if only you come out 
of a swan’s egg! 


60 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


He felt quite glad of all the misery and tribulation 
he had gone through ; he was the better able to appre- 
ciate his good fortune now, and all the beauty which 
greeted him. The big swans swam round and round 
him, and stroked him with their bills. 

Some little children came into the garden with corn 
and pieces of bread, which they threw into the water ; 
and the smallest one cried out , 6 ‘ There is a new one ! ’ ’ 
The other children shouted with joy, “Yes, a new one 
has come ! ’ ’ And they clapped their hands and danced 
about, running after their father and mother. They 
threw the bread into the water, and one and all said 
that “the new one was the prettiest; he was so young 
and handsome.’ ’ And the old swans bent their heads 
and did homage before him. 

He felt quite shy, and hid his head under his wing; 
he did not know what to think; he was so happy, but 
not at all proud; a good heart never becomes proud. 
He thought of how he had been pursued and scorned, 
and now he heard them all say that he was the most 
beautiful of all beautiful birds. The lilacs bent their 
boughs right down into the water before him, and the 
bright sun was warm and cheering, and he rustled his 
feathers and raised his slender neck aloft, saying with 
exultation in his heart : “I never dreamt of so much 
happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling !” 


61 


LITTLE TINY 


T HERE was once a woman who wished very much 
to have a little child, but she could not obtain her 
wish. At last she went to a fairy, and said, “I should 
so very much like to have a little child; can you tell 
me where I can find one f ’ 7 

“Oh, that can be easily managed ,’ 7 said the fairy. 
“Here is a grain of barley different from the kind that 
grows in the fields and that the chickens eat; plant it 
in a flower pot and see what will happen.” 

“Thank you,” said the woman, and she gave the 
fairy twelve pennies, which was the price of the barley- 
corn. Then she went home and planted it, and imme- 
diately there grew up a large handsome flower, some- 
thing like a tulip in appearance, but with its leaves 
tightly closed as if it were still a bud. “It is a beauti- 
ful flower,” said the woman, and she kissed the red 
and golden-colored leaves, and while she did so the 
flower opened, and she could see that it was a real 
tulip. Within the flower, upon the green velvet sta- 
mens, sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. 
She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave 
her the name of “Little Thumb,” or Tiny, because she 
was so small. A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, 
served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue 
violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a counterpane. Here 
62 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


she slept at night, but during the day she amused her- 
self on a table, where the woman had placed a plate full 
of water. Round this plate were flowers with their 
stems in the water, and upon it floated a large tulip- 
petal, which served Tiny for a boat. Here the little 
maiden sat and rowed herself from side to side, with 
two oars made of white horse-hair. It really was a 
very pretty sight. Tiny could sing so softly and 
sweetly that nothing like her singing had ever before 
been heard. One night, while she lay in her pretty 
bed, a large, ugly, wet toad crept through a broken 
pane of glass in the window, and leaped right upon the 
table where Tiny lay sleeping under her rose-leaf quilt. 
“What a pretty little wife this would make for my 
son!” said the toad, and she took up the walnut-shell 
in which little Tiny lay asleep, and jumped through the 
window with it into the garden. 

In the swampy margin of a broad stream in the gar- 
den lived the toad, with her son. He was uglier even 
than his mother, and when he saw the pretty little 
maiden in her elegant bed, he could only cry, “Croak, 
croak, croak.” 

“Don’t speak so loud, or she will awake,” said the 
toad, “and then she might run away, for she is as 
light as swan’s down. We will place her on one of 
the water-lily leaves out in the stream; it will be like 
an island to her, she is so light and small, and then she 
canno't escape; and, while she is away, we will make 
haste and prepare the state-room under the marsh, in 
which you are to live when you are married.” 

63 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Far out in the stream grew a number of water-lilies, 
with broad green leaves, which seemed to float on the 
top of the water. The largest of these leaves appeared 
farther off than the rest, and the old toad swam out 
to it with the walnut-shell, in which little Tiny lay still 
asleep. The little creature woke very early in the 
morning, and began to cry bitterly when she found 
where she was, for she could see nothing but water on 
every side of the large green leaf, and no way of reach- 
ing the land. Meanwhile the old toad was very busy 
under the marsh, decking her room with rushes and 
wild yellow flowers, to make it look pretty for her new 
daughter-in-law. Then she swam out with her ugly 
son to the leaf on which she had placed poor little Tiny. 
She wanted to fetch the pretty bed, that she might put 
it in the bridal chamber to be ready for her. The old 
toad bowed low to her in the water, and said, “Here 
is my son ; he will be your husband, and you will live 
happily together in the marsh by the stream . 9 9 

“Croak, croak, croak,” was all her son could say for 
himself ; so the toad took up the elegant little bed, and 
swam away with it, leaving Tiny all alone on the green 
leaf, where she sat and wept. She could not bear to 
think of living with the old toad, and having her ugly 
son for a husband. The little fishes, who swam about 
in the water beneath, had seen the toad, and had heard 
what she said, so they lifted their heads above the 
water to look at the little maiden. As soon as they 
caught sight of her, they saw she was very pretty, and 
it made them sorry to think that she must go and live 
64 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


with the ugly toads. “No, it must never be!” So 
they assembled together in the water, round the green 
stalk which held the leaf on which the little maiden 
stood, and gnawed it away at the root with their teeth. 
Then the leaf floated down the stream, carrying Tiny 
far away, out of reach of land. 

Tiny sailed past many towns, and the little birds in 
the bushes saw her, and sang, “What a lovely little 
creature ! ’ 9 so the leaf swam away with her farther and 
farther, till it brought her to other lands. A graceful 
white butterfly constantly fluttered round her, and at 
last alighted on the leaf. Tiny pleased him, and she 
was glad of it, for now the toad could not possibly 
reach her, and the country through which she sailed 
was beautiful, and the sun shone upon the water, till it 
glittered like liquid gold. She took off her girdle and 
tied one end of it round the butterfly, and the other 
end of the ribbon she fastened to the leaf, which now 
glided on much faster than ever, taking little Tiny 
with it as she stood. Presently a large cockchafer 
flew by; the moment he caught sight of her, he seized 
her round her delicate waist with his claws, and flew 
with her into a tree. The green leaf floated away on 
the brook, and the butterfly flew with it, for he was 
fastened to it, and could not get away. 

Oh, how frightened little Tiny felt when the cock- 
chafer flew with her to the tree ! But especially was 
she sorry for the beautiful white butterfly which she 
had fastened to the leaf, for if he could not free himself 
he would die of hunger. But the cockchafer did not 
65 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


trouble himself at all about the matter. He seated 
himself by her side on a large green leaf, gave her 
some honey from the flowers to eat, and told her she 
was very pretty, though not in the least like a cock- 
chafer. After a time, all the cockchafers who lived in 
the tree came to visit her. They stared at Tiny, and 
then the young lady cockchafers turned up their feel- 
ers, and said, “She has only two legs! how ugly that 
looks.’ ’ “She has no feelers,” said another. “Her 
w r aist is quite slim. Pooh ! she is like a human being. ’ 9 
“Oh! she is ugly,” said all the lady cockchafers, 
although Tiny was very pretty. Then the cockchafer 
who had run away with her believed all the others 
when they said she was ugly, and would have nothing 
more to say to her, and told her she might go where 
she liked. Then he flew down with her from the tree, 
and placed her on a daisy, and she wept at the thought 
that she was so ugly that even the cockchafers would 
have nothing to say to her. And all the while she was 
really the loveliest creature that one could imagine, 
and as tender and delicate as a beautiful roseleaf. 
During the whole summer poor little Tiny lived quite 
alone in the wide forest. She wove herself a bed with 
blades of grass, and hung it up under a broad leaf, to 
protect herself from the rain. She sucked the honey 
from the flowers for food, and drank the dew from 
their leaves every morning. So passed away the sum- 
mer and the autumn, and then came the winter, — the 
long, cold winter. All the birds who had sung to her 
so sweetly were flown away, and the trees and the 
66 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


flowers had withered. The large clover leaf, under 
the shelter of which she had lived, was now rolled to- 
gether and shriveled up, nothing remained but a yellow 
withered stalk. She felt dreadfully cold, for her 
clothes were torn, and she was herself so frail and deli- 
cate, that poor little Tiny was nearly frozen to death. 
It began to snow too ; and the snow-flakes, as they fell 
upon her, were like a whole shovelful falling upon one 
of us, for we are tall, but she was only an inch high. 
Then she wrapped herself up in a dry leaf, hut it 
cracked in the middle, and could not keep her warm, 
and she shivered with cold. Near the wood in which 
she had been living lay a large corn-fleld, but the corn 
had been cut a long time; nothing remained but the 
bare dry stubble standing up out of the frozen ground. 
It was to her like struggling through a large wood. 
Oh ! how she shivered with the cold. She came at last 
to the door of a field-mouse, who had a little den under 
the corn-stubble. There dwelt the field mouse in 
warmth and comfort, with a whole roomful of corn, 
a kitchen, and a beautiful dining-room. Poor little 
Tiny stood before the door just like a little beggar- 
girl, and begged for a small piece of barleycorn, for 
she had been without a morsel to eat for two days. 

“You poor little creature,” said the field-mouse, who 
was really a good old field-mouse, “come into my warm 
room and dine with me.” She was very pleased with 
Tiny, so she said, “You are quite welcome to stay with 
me all the winter, if you like ; but you must keep my 
rooms clean and neat, and tell me stories, for I shall 
67 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


like to hear them very much. ,, And Tiny did all the 
field-mouse asked her, and found herself very com- 
fortable. 

“ We shall have a visitor soon/’ said the field-mouse 
one day; “my neighbor pays me a visit once a week. 
He is better off than I am; he has large rooms, and 
wears a beautiful black velvet coat. If you could only 
have him for a husband, you would be well provided 
for indeed. But he is blind, so you must tell him some 
of your prettiest stories.” 

But Tiny did not feel at all interested about this 
neighbor, for he was a mole. However, he came and 
paid his visit, dressed in his black velvet coat. 

“ He is very rich and learned, and his house is twenty 
times larger than mine,” said the field-mouse. 

He was rich and learned, no doubt, but he always 
spoke slightingly of the sun and the pretty flowers, 
because he had never seen them. Tiny was obliged to 
sing to him, “Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home,” 
and many other pretty songs. And the mole fell in 
love with her because she had such a sweet voice ; but 
he said nothing yet, for he was very cautious. A short 
time before, the mole had dug a long passage under 
the earth, which led from the dwelling of the field- 
mouse to his own, and here she had permission to 
walk with Tiny, whenever she liked. But he warned 
them not to be alarmed at the sight of a dead bird 
which lay in the passage. It was a perfect bird, with 
a beak and feathers, and could not have been dead 
long, and was lying just where the mole had made 
68 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


his passage. The mole took a piece of phosphorescent 
wood in his mouth, and it glittered like fire in the dark ; 
then he went before them to light them through the 
long, dark passage. When they came to the spot where 
lay the dead bird, the mole pushed his broad nose 
through the ceiling, the earth gave way, so that there 
was a large hole, and the daylight shone into the pas- 
sage. In the middle of the floor lay a dead swallow, 
his beautiful wings folded close to his sides, his feet 
and his head drawn up under his feathers; the poor 
bird had evidently died of the cold. It made little 
Tiny very sad to see it, she did so love the little birds ; 
all the summer they had sung and twittered for her so 
beautifully. But the mole pushed it aside with his 
crooked legs, and said, “He will sing no more now. 
How miserable it must be to be born a little bird! I 
am thankful that none of my children will ever be 
birds, for they can do nothing but cry, ‘Tweet, tweet, 1 
and always die of hunger in the winter.” 

“Yes, you may well say that, as a clever mole!” ex- 
claimed the field-mouse. “What is the use of his twit- 
tering, for when winter comes he must either starve 
or be frozen to death. Still birds are very high bred. ” 

Tiny said nothing; but when the two others had 
turned their backs on the bird, she stooped down and 
stroked aside the soft feathers which covered the head, 
and kissed the closed eyelids. “Perhaps this was the 
one who sang to me so sweetly in the summer,” she 
said; “and how much pleasure you gave me, you dear, 
pretty bird.” 


69 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

The mole now stopped up the hole through which 
the daylight shone, and then accompanied the ladies 
home. But during the night Tiny could not sleep, so 
she got out of bed and wove a large, beautiful carpet 
of hay ; then she carried it to the dead bird, and spread 
it over him, with some down from the flowers which 
she had found in the field-mouse’s room. It was as 
soft as wool, and she spread some of it on each side of 
the bird, so that he might lie warmly in the cold earth. 
“ Farewell, you pretty little bird,” said she, ‘ ‘ farewell; 
thank you for your delightful singing during the sum- 
mer, when all the trees were green, and the warm 
sun shone upon us.” Then she laid her head on the 
bird’s breast, but she was alarmed immediately, for it 
seemed as if something inside the bird went “ thump, 
thump.” It was the bird’s heart; he was not really 
dead, only benumbed with the cold, and the warmth 
had restored him to life. 

In autumn, all the swallows fly away into warm 
countries, but if one happens to linger, the cold seizes 
it, it becomes frozen, and falls down as if dead; it re- 
mains where it fell, and the cold snow covers it. Tiny 
trembled very much; she was quite frightened, for the 
bird was large, a great deal larger than herself, — she 
was only an inch high. But she took courage, laid the 
wool more thickly over the poor swallow, and then 
brought a leaf which she had used for her own counter- 
pane, and laid it over the head of the poor bird. The 
next night she again stole out to see him. He was alive 
but very weak; he could only open his eyes for a 
70 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


moment to look at Tiny, who stood holding a piece of 
decayed wood in her hand, for she had no other lan- 
tern. “Thank you, pretty little maiden,” said the sick 
swallow; “I have been so nicely warmed, that I shall 
soon regain my strength, and be able to fly about again 
in the warm sunshine . 7 7 

“Oh,” said she, “it is cold out of doors now; it 
snows and freezes. Stay in your warm bed ; I will take 
care of you.” 

Then she brought the swallow some water in a flower- 
leaf, and, after he had drunk, he told her that he had 
wounded one of his wings in a thorn-bush, and could 
not fly as fast as the others, who were soon far away 
on their journey to warm countries. Then at last he 
had fallen to the earth, and could remember no more, 
nor how he came to where she had found him. The 
whole winter the swallow remained underground, and 
Tiny nursed him with care and love. Neither the mole 
nor the field-mouse knew anything about it, for they 
did not like swallows. Very soon the spring time 
came, and the sun warmed the earth. Then the swal- 
low bade farewell to Tiny, and she opened the hole in 
the ceiling which the mole had made. The sun shone 
in upon them so beautifully, that the swallow asked 
her if she would go with him; she could sit on his back, 
he said, and he would fly away with her into the green 
woods. But Tiny knew it would make the field-mouse 
very grieved if she left her in that manner, so she 
said, “No, I cannot.” 

“Farewell, then, farewell, you good, pretty little 

71 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


maiden,” said the swallow; and he flew out into the 
sunshine. 

Tiny looked after him, and the tears rose in her 
eyes. She was very fond of the poor swallow. 

6 ‘ Tweet, tweet,” sang the bird, as he flew out into 
the green woods, and Tiny felt very sad. She was 
not allowed to go out into the warm sunshine. The 
corn which had been sown in the field over the house 
of the field-mouse had grown up high into the air, 
and formed a thick wood to Tiny, who was only an inch 
in height. 

“You are going to be married, Tiny,” said the field- 
mouse. “My neighbor has asked for you. What good 
fortune for a poor child like you! Now we will pre- 
pare your wedding clothes. They must be both woolen 
and linen. Nothing must be wanting when you are 
the mole ’s wife . 7 7 

Tiny had to turn the spindle, and the field-mouse 
hired four spiders, who were to weave day and night. 
Every evening the mole visited her, and was continu- 
ally speaking of the time when the summer would be 
over. Then he would keep his wedding-day with Tiny ; 
but now the heat of the sun was so great that it 
burned the earth, and made it quite hard, like a stone. 
As soon as the summer was over, the wedding should 
take place. But Tiny was not at all pleased ; for she 
did not like the tiresome mole. Every morning when 
the sun rose, and every evening when it went down, 
she would creep out at the door, and as the wind blew 
aside the leaves of the corn, so that she could see the 
72 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


blue sky, she thought how beautiful and bright it 
seemed out there, and wished so much to see her dear 
swallow again. But he never returned; for by this 
time he had flown far away into the lovely green 
forest. 

When autumn arrived, Tiny had her outfit quite 
ready; and the field-mouse said to her, “In four weeks 
the wedding must take place . 9 9 

Then Tiny wept, and said she would not marry the 
disagreeable mole. 

“ Nonsense,’ ’ replied the field-mouse. “Now don’t 
be obstinate, or I shall bite you with my teeth. He is 
a very handsome mole ; the queen herself does not wear 
more beautiful velvets and furs. His kitchens and 
cellars are quite full. You ought to be thankful for 
such good fortune .’ 9 

So the wedding-day was fixed, on which the mole 
was to fetch Tiny away to live with him, deep under 
the earth, and never again to see the warm sun, because 
he did not like it. The poor child was very unhappy 
at the thought of saying farewell to the beautiful sun, 
and as the field-mouse had given her permission to 
stand at the door, she went to look at it once more. 

“Farewell, bright sun,” she cried, stretching out her 
arm towards it ; and then she walked a short distance 
from the house; for the corn had been cut, and only 
the dry stubble remained in the fields. “Farewell, 
farewell,” she repeated, twining her arm round a little 
red flower that grew just by her side. “Greet the 
little swallow from me, if you should see him again.” 
73 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“ Tweet, tweet,’ ’ sounded over her head suddenly. 
She looked up, and there was the swallow himself 
flying close by. As soon as he spied Tiny, he was de- 
lighted; and then she told him how unwilling she felt 
to marry the ugly mole, and to live always beneath the 
earth, and never see the bright sun any more. And 
as she told him, she wept. 

‘ 4 Cold winter is coming,” said the swallow, 1 1 and 
I am going to fly away into w r armer countries. Will 
you go with me? You can sit on my back, and fasten 
yourself on with your sash. Then we can fly away 
from the ugly mole and his gloomy rooms, — far away, 
over the mountains, into warmer countries, where the 
sun shines more brightly than here ; where it is always 
summer, and the flowers bloom in greater beauty. Fly 
now with me, dear little Tiny ; you saved my life when 
I lay frozen in that dark, dreary passage.” 

“ Yes, I will go with you,” said Tiny; and she seated 
herself on the bird’s back, with her feet on his out- 
stretched wings, and tied her girdle to one of his 
strongest feathers. 

Then the swallow rose in the air, and flew over forest 
and over sea, high above the highest mountains, cov- 
ered with eternal snow. Tiny would have been frozen 
in the cold air, but she crept under the bird’s warm 
feathers, keeping her little head uncovered, so that she 
might admire the beautiful lands over which they 
passed. At length they reached the warm countries, 
where the sun shines brightly, and the sky seems much 
higher above the earth. Here, on the hedges, and by 
74 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the wayside, grew purple, green, and white grapes; 
lemons and oranges hung from trees in the woods ; and 
the air was fragrant with myrtles and orange blos- 
soms. Beautiful children ran along the country lanes, 
playing with large gay butterflies ; and as the swallow 
flew farther and farther, every place appeared still 
more lovely. 

At last they came to a blue lake, and by the side 
of it, shaded by trees of the deepest green, stood a 
palace of dazzling white marble, built in the olden 
times. Vines clustered round its lofty pillars, and 
at the top were many swallows’ nests, and one of 
these was the home of the swallow who carried 
Tiny. 

“This is my house,’ ’ said the swallow; “but it would 
not do for you to live there — you would not be com- 
fortable. You must choose for yourself one of those 
lovely flowers, and I will put you down upon it, and 
then you shall have everything that you can wish to 
make you happy.” 

“That will be delightful,” she said, and clapped her 
little hands for joy. 

A large marble pillar lay on the ground, which, in 
falling, had been broken into three pieces. Between 
these pieces grew the most beautiful large white flow- 
ers; so the swallow flew down with Tiny, and placed 
her on one of the broad leaves. But how surprised 
she was to see, in the middle of the flower, a tiny little 
man, as white and transparent as if he had been made 
of crystal! He had a gold crown on his head, and 
75 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


delicate wings at his shoulders, and was not much 
larger than Tiny herself. He was the angel of the 
flower ; for a tiny man or a tiny woman dwells in every 
flower ; and this was the king of them all. 

“Oh, how beautiful he is!” whispered Tiny to the 
swallow. 

The little prince was at first quite frightened at the 
bird, who was like a giant, compared to such a delicate 
little creature as himself; hut when he saw Tiny, he 
was delighted, and thought her the prettiest little 
maiden he had ever seen. He took the gold crown 
from his head, and placed it on hers, and asked her 
name, and if she would be his wife, and queen over all 
the flowers. 

This certainly was a very different sort of husband 
from the son of the toad, or the mole, with his black 
velvet and fur; so she said, “Yes,” to the handsome 
prince. Then all the flowers opened, and out of each 
came a little lady or a tiny lord, all so pretty it was 
quite a pleasure to look at them. Each of them 
brought Tiny a present; but the best gift was a pair 
of beautiful wings, which had belonged to a large white 
fly, and they fastened them to Tiny’s shoulders, so 
that she might fly from flower to flower. Then there 
was much rejoicing, and the little swallow, who sat 
above them, in his nest, was asked to sing a wedding 
song, which he did as well as he could ; but in his heart 
he felt sad, for he was very fond of Tiny, and would 
have liked never to part from her again. 

“You must not be called Tiny any more,” said the 

76 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


spirit of the flowers to her. ‘ ‘It is an ugly name, and 
you are so very pretty. We will call you Maia.” 

“Farewell, farewell,” said the swallow, with a heavy 
heart, as he left the warm countries, to fly back into 
Denmark. There he had a nest over the window of a 
house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The 
swallow sang, “Tweet, tweet,” and from his song came 
the whole story. 


77 


THE RED SHOES 


T HERE was once a little girl ; she was a tiny, deli- 
cate little thing, but she always had to go about 
barefoot in summer, because she was very poor. In 
winter she only had a pair of heavy wooden shoes, and 
her ankles were terribly chafed. 

An old mother shoemaker lived in the middle of the 
village, and she made a pair of little shoes out of some 
strips of red cloth. They were very clumsy, but they 
were made with the best intention, for the little girl 
was to have them. Her name was Karen. 

These shoes were given to her, and she wore them 
for the first time on the day her mother was buried; 
they were certainly not mourning, but she had no 
others, and so she walked barelegged in them behind 
the poor pine coffin. 

Just then a big old carriage drove by, and a big old 
lady was seated in it ; she looked at the little girl, and 
felt very, very sorry for her, and said to the Parson, 
“Give the little girl to me and I will look after her 
and be kind to her.’* Karen thought it was all be- 
cause of the red shoes, but the old lady said they were 
hideous, and they were burnt. Karen was well and 
neatly dressed, and had to learn reading and sewing. 
People said she was pretty, but her mirror said, “You 
are more than pretty, you are lovely. ’ ’ 

78 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


At this time the queen was taking a journey through 
the country, and she had her little daughter the 
princess with her. The people, and among them 
Karen, crowded round the palace where they were 
staying, to see them. The little princess stood at a 
window to show herself. She wore neither a train nor 
a golden crown, but she was dressed all in white with 
a beautiful pair of red morocco shoes. They were 
indeed a contrast to those the poor old mother shoe- 
maker had made for Karen. Nothing in the world 
could be compared to these red shoes. 

The time came when Karen was old enough to be 
confirmed; she had new clothes, and she was also to 
have a pair of new shoes. The rich shoemaker in the 
town was to take the measure of her little foot ; his shop 
was full of glass cases of the most charming shoes 
and shiny leather boots. They looked beautiful, but 
the old lady could not see very well, so it gave her 
no pleasure to look at them. Among all the other 
shoes there was one pair of red shoes like those worn 
by the princess ; oh, how pretty they were. The shoe- 
maker told them that they had been made for an earl’s 
daughter, but they had not fitted. “I suppose they 
are patent leather,” said the old lady, “they are so 
shiny . 9 9 

“Yes, they do shine,” said Karen, who tried them 
on. They .fitted and were bought; but the old lady 
had not the least idea that they were red, or she would 
never have allowed Karen to wear them for her Con- 
firmation. This she did however. 

79 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Everybody looked at her feet, and when she walked 
up the church to the chancel, she thought that even the 
old pictures, those portraits of dead and gone priests 
and their wives, with stiff collars and long black clothes, 
fixed their eyes upon her shoes. She thought of noth- 
ing else when the minister laid his hand upon her head 
and spoke to her of holy baptism, the covenant of God, 
and that from henceforth she was to be a responsible 
Christian person. The solemn notes of the organ re- 
sounded, the children sang with their sweet voices, 
the old precentor sang, but Karen only thought about 
her red shoes. 

By the afternoon the old lady had been told on all 
sides that the shoes were red, and she said it was very 
naughty and most improper. For the future, when- 
ever Karen went to the church she was to wear black 
shoes, even if they were old. Next Sunday there was 
Holy Communion, and Karen was to receive it for the 
first time. She looked at the black shoes and then at 
the red ones — then she looked again at the red, and at 
last put them on. 

It was beautiful, sunny weather ; Karen and the old 
lady went by the path through the cornfield, and it 
was rather dusty. By the church door stood an old 
soldier, with a crutch; he had a curious long beard, 
it was more red than white, in fact it was almost quite 
red. He bent down to the ground and asked the old 
lady if he might dust her shoes. Karen put out her 
little foot too. ‘ 1 See, what beautiful dancing shoes ! ’ 1 
said the soldier. “Mind you stick fast when you 
80 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


dance,’ ’ and as he spoke he struck the soles with his 
hand. The old lady gave the soldier a copper and went 
into the church with Karen. All the people in the 
church looked at Karen’s red shoes, and all the por- 
traits looked too. When Karen knelt at the altar-rails 
and the chalice was put to her lips, she only thought 
of the red shoes ; she seemed to see them floating be- 
fore her eyes. She forgot to join in the hymn of 
praise, and she forgot to say the Lord’s Prayer. 

Now everybody left the church, and the old lady 
got into her carriage. Karen lifted her foot to get 
in after her, but just then the old soldier, who was 
still standing there, said, “See what pretty dancing 
shoes!” Karen couldn’t help it; she took a few danc- 
ing steps, and when she began her feet continued to 
dance; it was just as if the shoes had a power over 
them. She danced right round the church ; she couldn’t 
stop ; the coachman had to run after her and take hold 
of her, and lift her into the carriage ; but her feet con- 
tinued to dance, so that she kicked the poor lady horri- 
bly. At last they got the shoes off, and her feet had 
a little rest. 

When they got home the shoes were put away in 
a cupboard, but Karen could not help going to look at 
them. 

The old lady became very ill; they said she could 
not live; she had to be carefully nursed and tended, 
and no one was nearer than Karen to do this. But 
there was to be a grand ball in the town, and Karen 
was invited. She looked at the old lady, who after all 
81 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


could not live ; she looked at the red shoes ; she thought 
there was no harm in doing so. She put on the red 
shoes, even that she might do ; but she went to the ball 
and began to dance ! The shoes would not let her do 
what she liked: when she wanted to go to the right, 
they danced to the left : when she wanted to dance up 
the room, the shoes danced down the room, then down 
the stairs, through the streets and out of the town 
gate. Away she danced, and away she had to dance, 
right away into the dark forest. Something shone up 
above the trees, and she thought it was the moon, for 
it was a face, but it was the old soldier with the red 
beard, and he nodded and said, “See what pretty 
dancing shoes !” 

This frightened her terribly and she wanted to throw 
off the red shoes, but they stuck fast. She tore off her 
stockings, but the shoes had grown fast to her feet, 
and off she danced, and off she had to dance over 
fields and meadows, in rain and sunshine, by day and 
by night, but at night it was fearful. 

She danced into the open churchyard, but the dead 
did not join her dance, they had something much better 
to do. She wanted to sit down on a pauper’s grave 
where the bitter wormwood grew, but there was no 
rest nor repose for her. When she danced towards 
the open church door, she saw an angel standing there 
in long white robes and wings which reached from his 
shoulders to the ground, his face was grave and stern, 
and in his hand he held a broad and shining sword. 

“Dance you shall !” said he, “you shall dance in 

82 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


your red shoes till you are pale and cold. Till your 
skin shrivels up and you are a skeleton! You shall 
dance from door to door, and wherever you find proud 
vain children, you must knock at the door so that they 
may see you and fear you. Yea, you shall dance — ” 

“Mercy !” shrieked Karen, but she did not hear the 
angel’s answer, for the shoes bore her through the 
gate into the fields over roadways and paths, ever 
and ever she was forced to dance. 

One morning she danced past a door she knew well ; 
she heard the sound of a hymn from within, and a 
coffin covered with flowers was being carried out. 
Then she knew that the old lady was dead, and it 
seemed to her that she was forsaken by all the world, 
and cursed by the holy angels of God. 

On and ever on she danced; dance she must even 
through the dark nights. The shoes bore her away 
over briars and stubble till her feet were torn and 
bleeding ; she danced away over the heath till she came 
to a little lonely house. She knew the executioner 
lived here, and she tapped with her fingers on the 
window pane and said, — 

“Come out! come out! I can’t come in for I am 
dancing ! ’ ’ 

The executioner said, “You can’t know who I am? 
I chop the bad people’s heads off, and I see that my 
ax is quivering .’ 9 

“Don’t chop my head off,” said Karen, “for then 
I can never repent of my sins, but pray, pray chop my 
feet off with the red shoes!” 

83 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


Then she confessed all her sins, and the executioner 
chopped off her feet with the red shoes, but the shoes 
danced right away with the little feet into the depths 
of the forest. 

Then he made her a pair of wooden feet and 
crutches, and he taught her a psalm, the one penitents 
always sing ; and she kissed the hand which had wielded 
the ax, and went away over the heath. 

“I have suffered enough for those red shoes !” said 
she. “I will go to church now, so that they may see 
me!” and she went as fast as she could to the church 
door. When she got there, the red shoes danced right 
up in front of her, and she was frightened and went 
home again. 

She was very sad all the week, and shed many bit- 
ter tears, but when Sunday came, she said, “Now 
then, I have suffered and struggled long enough; I 
should think I am quite as good as many who sit hold- 
ing their heads so high in church!” She went along 
quite boldly, but she did not get further than the gate 
before she saw the red shoes dancing in front of her ; 
she was more frightened than ever, and turned back, 
this time with real repentance in her heart. Then she 
went to the parson’s house, and begged to be taken into 
service, she would be very industrious and work as 
hard as she could, she didn’t care what wages they 
gave her, if only she might have a roof over her head 
and live among kind people. The parson’s wife was 
sorry for her, and took her into her service ; she proved 
to be very industrious and thoughtful. She sat very 
84 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


still, and listened most attentively in the evening when 
the parson read the Bible. All the little ones were 
very fond of her, but when they chattered about finery 
and dress, and about being as beautiful as a queen, she 
would shake her head. 

Next Sunday they all went to church, and they asked 
her if she would go with them; but she looked sadly, 
with tears in her eyes, at her crutches, and they went 
without her to hear the word of God, and she sat in 
her little room alone. It was only big enough for a 
bed and a chair; she sat there with her prayer-book 
in her hand, and as she read it with a humble mind, she 
heard the notes of the organ, borne from the church 
by the wind ; she raised her tear-stained face and said, 
“Oh, God help me!” 

Then the sun shone brightly round her, and the angel 
in the white robes whom she had seen on yonder night, 
at the church door, stood before her. He no longer 
held the sharp sword in his hand, but a beautiful green 
branch, covered with roses. He touched the ceiling 
with it and it rose to a great height, and wherever he 
touched it a golden star appeared. Then he touched 
the walls and they spread themselves out, and she saw 
and heard the organ. She saw the pictures of the old 
parsons and their wives; the congregation were all 
sitting in their seats singing aloud — for the church 
itself had come home to the poor girl, in her narrow 
little chamber, or else she had been taken to it. She 
found herself on the bench with the other people from 
the Parsonage. And when the hymn had come to an 
85 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


end they looked up and nodded to her and said, “It 
was a good thing you came after all, little Karen ! ’ ’ 

“It was through God’s mercy!” she said. The 
organ sounded, and the children’s voices echoed so 
sweetly through the choir. The warm sunshine 
streamed brightly in through the window, right up to 
the bench where Karen sat; her heart was so over- 
filled with the sunshine, with peace, and with joy, that 
it broke. Her soul flew with the sunshine to heaven, 
and no one there asked about the red shoes. 


86 


THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER 

rilHERE were once five and twenty tin soldiers, 
all brothers, for they were the offspring of the 
same old tin spoon. Each man shouldered his gun, 
kept his eyes well to the front, and wore the smartest 
red and blue uniform imaginable. The first thing they 
heard in their new world, when the lid was taken off 
the box, was a little boy clapping his hands and cry- 
ing, 4 ‘Soldiers, soldiers!” It was his birthday and 
they had just been given to him ; so he lost no time in 
setting them up on the table. All the soldiers were 
exactly alike with one exception, and he differed from 
the rest in having only one leg. For he was made last, 
and there was not quite enough tin left to finish him. 
However, he stood just as well on his one leg as the 
others on two, in fact he is the very one who is to be- 
come famous. On the table where they were being set 
up, were many other toys; but the chief thing which 
caught the eye was a delightful paper castle. You 
could see through the tiny windows, right into the 
rooms. Outside there were some little trees surround- 
ing a small mirror, representing a lake, whose surface 
reflected the waxen swans which were swimming about 
on it. It was altogether charming, but the prettiest 
thing of all was a little maiden standing at the open 
87 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


door of the castle. She, too, was cut out of paper, 
but she wore a dress of the lightest gauze, with a dainty 
little blue ribbon over her shoulders, by way of a 
scarf, set off by a brilliant spangle as big as her whole 
face. The little maid was stretching out both arms, for 
she was a dancer, and in the dance one of her legs was 
raised so high into the air that the tin soldier could 
see absolutely nothing of it, and supposed that she, 
like himself, had but one leg. 

“That would be the very wife for me!” he thought; 
“but she is much too grand; she lives in a palace, while 
I only have a box, and then there are five and twenty 
of us to share it. No, that would be no place for her ! 
but I must try to make her acquaintance!” Then he 
lay down full length behind a snuff box, which stood 
on the table. From that point he could have a good 
look at the lady, who continued to stand on one leg 
without losing her balance. 

Late in the evening the other soldiers were put into 
their box, and the people of the house went to bed. 
Now was the time for the toys to play; they amused 
themselves with paying visits, fighting battles, and giv- 
ing balls. The tin soldiers rustled about in their box, 
for they wanted to join the games, but they could not 
get the lid off. The nut-crackers turned somersaults, 
and the pencil scribbled nonsense on the slate. There 
was such a noise that the canary woke up and joined 
in, but his remarks were in verse. The only two who 
did not move were the tin soldier and the little dancer. 
She stood as stiff as ever on tip-toe, with her arms 
88 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


spread out : he was equally firm on his one leg, and he 
did not take his eyes off her for a moment. 

Then the clock struck twelve, when pop ! up flew the 
lid of the snuff box, but there was no snuff in it, no ! 
There was a little black goblin, a sort of Jack-in-the- 
box. 

i ‘Tin soldier !” said the goblin, “have the goodness 
to keep your eyes to yourself.” 

But the tin soldier feigned not to hear. 

“Ah! you just wait till to-morrow,” said the goblin. 

In the morning when the children got up they put 
the tin soldier on the window frame, and, whether it 
was caused by the goblin or by a puff of wind, I do 
not know, but all at once the window burst open, and 
the soldier fell head foremost from the third story. 

It was a terrific descent, and he landed at last, with 
his leg in the air, and rested on his cap, with his 
bayonet fixed between two paving stones. The maid- 
servant and the little boy ran down at once to look 
for him; but although they almost trod on him, they 
could not see him. Had the soldier only called out, 
“Here I am,” they would easily have found him, but 
he did not think it proper to shout when he was in 
uniform. 

Presently it began to rain, and the drops fell faster 
and faster, till there was a regular torrent. When it 
was over two street boys came along. 

“Look out!” said one; “there is a tin soldier! He 
shall go for a sail.” 

So they made a boat out of a newspaper and put the 

89 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


soldier into the middle of it, and he sailed away down 
the gutter; both boys ran alongside clapping their 
hands. Good heavens! what waves there were in the 
gutter, and what a current, but then it certainly had 
rained cats and dogs. The paper boat danced up and 
down, and now and then whirled round and round. A 
shudder ran through the tin soldier, but he remained 
undaunted, and did not move a muscle, only looked 
straight before him with his gun shouldered. All at 
once the boat drifted under a long wooden tunnel, and 
it became as dark as it was in his box. 

‘ ‘ Where on earth am I going now!” thought he. 
“Well, well, it is all the fault of that goblin! Oh, if 
only the little maiden were with me in the boat it might 
be twice as dark for all I should care!” 

At this moment a big water rat, who lived in the 
tunnel, came up. 

i ‘ Have you a pass ! ’ ’ asked the rat. i ‘ Hand up your 
pass!” 

The tin soldier did not speak, but clung still tighter 
to his gun. The boat rushed on, the rat close behind. 
Phew, how he gnashed his teeth and shouted to the bits 
of stick and straw, — 

“Stop him, stop him, he hasn’t paid his toll; he 
hasn’t shown his pass!” 

But the current grew stronger and stronger, the tin 
soldier could already see daylight before him at the 
end of the tunnel; but he also heard a roaring sound, 
fit to strike terror to the bravest heart. Just imagine ! 
Where the tunnel ended the stream rushed straight 
90 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


into the big canal. That would be just as dangerous 
for him as it would be for us to shoot a great rapid. 

He was so near the end now that it was impossible 
to stop. The boat dashed out; the poor tin soldier 
held himself as stiff as he could; no one should say 
of him that he even winced. 

The boat swirled round three or four times, and 
filled with water to the edge; it must sink. The tin 
soldier stood up to his neck in water, and the boat 
sank deeper and deeper. The paper became limper 
and limper, and at last the water went over his head — 
then he thought of the pretty little dancer, whom he 
was never to see again, and this refrain rang in his 
ears, — 

“Onward ! Onward ! Soldier ! 

For death thou canst not shun.” 

At last the paper gave way entirely and the soldier 
fell through— but at the same moment he was swal- 
lowed by a big fish. 

Oh, how dark it was inside the fish, it was worse 
than being in the tunnel even; and then it was so 
narrow I But the tin soldier was as dauntless as ever, 
and lay full length, shouldering his gun. 

The fish rushed about and made the most frantic 
movements. At last it became quite quiet, and after 
a time, a flash like lightning pierced it. The soldier 
was once more in the broad daylight, and some one 
called out loudly, “a tin soldier !” The fish had been 
caught, taken to market, sold, and brought into the 
kitchen where the cook cut it open with a large knife. 
91 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

She took the soldier up by the waist, with two fingers, 
and carried him into the parlor, where every one wanted 
to see the wonderful man, who had traveled about in 
the stomach of a fish ; but the tin soldier was not at all 
proud. They set him up on the table, and, wonder of 
wonders ! he found himself in the very same room that 
he had been in before. He saw the very same children, 
and the toys were still standing on the table, as well as 
the beautiful castle with the pretty little dancer. 

She still stood on one leg, and held the other up in the 
air. You see she also was unbending. The soldier 
was so much moved that he was ready to shed tears 
of tin, but that would not have been fitting. He looked 
at her, and she looked at him, but they said never a 
word. At this moment one of the little boys took up 
the tin soldier, and without rime or reason, threw him 
into the fire. No doubt the little goblin in the snuff 
box was to blame for that. The tin soldier stood there, 
lighted up by the flame, and in the most horrible heat ; 
but whether it was the heat of the real fire, or the 
warmth of his feelings, he did not know. He had lost 
all his gay color; it might have been from his perilous 
journey, or it might have been from grief, who can tell? 

He looked at the little maiden, and she looked at him ; 
and he felt that he was melting away, but he still man- 
aged to keep himself erect, shouldering his gun bravely. 

A door was suddenly opened, the draught caught the 
little dancer and she fluttered like a sylph, straight 
into the fire, to the soldier, blazed up and was gone ! 

By this time the soldier was reduced to a mere lump, 

92 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and when the maid took away the ashes next morning 
she found him, in the shape of a small tin heart. All 
that was left of the dancer was her spangle, and that 
was burned as black as a coal. 


93 


LITTLE IDA’S FLOWERS 


6 ‘1VF P oor ^ owers are dead,” said little Ida; “they 

4* A were so pretty yesterday evening, and now all 
the leaves are hanging down quite withered. Why 
do they do that?” she asked of the student who sat on 
the sofa: she liked him very much, he could tell the 
most amusing stories, and cut out the prettiest pic- 
tures — hearts, and ladies dancing, castles with doors 
that opened, as well as flowers; he was a delightful 
student. “Why do the flowers look so faded to-day?” 
she asked again, and pointed to her nosegay, which 
was quite withered. 

“Don’t you know what is the matter with them?” 
said the student. “The flowers were at a ball last 
night, and it is no wonder they hang their heads. ’ ’ 

i ‘ But flowers cannot dance ? ’ ’ cried little Ida. 

“Yes, indeed, they can,” replied the student. 
“When it grows dark, and everybody is asleep, they 
jump about quite merrily. They have a ball almost 
every night.” 

“Can children go to these balls?” 

“Yes,” said the student, “little daisies and lilies of 
the valley.” 

“Where do the flowers dance?” asked little Ida. 

“Have you not often seen the large castle outside the 
gates of the town, where the king lives in summer, and 
94 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


where the beautiful garden is full of flowers? And 
have you not fed the swans with bread when they swam 
towards you in the lake? Well, the flowers have capi- 
tal balls there, believe me.” 

“I was in the garden yesterday with my mother,” 
said Ida, “but all the leaves were off the trees, and 
there was not a single flower left. Where are they? 
I used to see so many in the summer.” 

‘ ‘ They are in the castle , ’ 9 replied the student. “You 
must know that as soon as the king and all the court 
are gone into the towi^ the flowers run out of the 
garden into the castle, and you should see how merry 
they are. The two most beautiful roses seat them- 
selves on the throne, and are called the king and queen ; 
then all the red cockscombs range themselves on each 
side, and bow, these are the lords-in-waiting. After 
that the pretty flowers come in, and there is a grand 
ball. The blue violets represent little naval cadets, and 
dance with hyacinths and crocuses, which they call 
young ladies. The tulips and tiger-lilies are the old 
ladies who sit and watch the dancing, so that every- 
thing may be conducted with order and propriety.” 

“But,” said little Ida, “is there no one there to 
hurt the flowers for dancing in the king’s castle?” 

“No one knows anything about it,” said the student. 
“The old steward of the castle, who has to watch there 
at night, sometimes comes in; but he carries a great 
bunch of keys, and as soon as the flowers hear the keys 
rattle, they run and hide themselves behind the long 
curtains, and stand quite still, just peeping their heads 

95 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


out. Then the old steward says, ‘I smell flowers here,’ 
but he cannot see them. ’ ’ 

“Oh, how capital !” said little Ida, clapping her 
hands. “Should I be able to see these flowers ?” 

“Yes,” said the student; “mind you think of it next 
time you go out. No doubt you will see them, if you 
peep through the window. I did so to-day, and I 
saw a long yellow lily lying stretched out on the sofa ; 
she was a court lady.” 

“Can the flowers from the Botanical Gardens go to 
these balls?” asked Ida. “It is such a distance!” 

“Oh, yes,” said the student, “whenever they like, 
for they can fly. Have you not seen those beautiful 
red, white, and yellow butterflies, that look like flowers ? 
They were flowers once. They have flown off their 
stalks into the air, and flap their leaves as if they were 
little wings to make them fly. Then, if they behave 
well, they obtain permission to fly about during the 
day, instead of being obliged to sit still on their stems 
at home, and so in time their leaves become real wings. 
It may be, however, that the flowers in the Botanical 
Gardens have never been to the king’s palace, and, 
therefore, they know nothing of the merry doings which 
take place there at night. I will tell you what to do, 
and the botanical professor, who lives close by here, 
will be so surprised. You know him very well, do you 
not? Well, next time you go into his garden, you must 
tell one of the flowers that there is going to be a grand 
ball at the castle, then that flower will tell all the 
others, and they will fly away to the castle as soon 

96 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


as possible. And when the professor walks into his 
garden, there will not be a single flower left. How he 
will wonder what has become of them ! ’ ’ 

6 i But how can one flower tell another ? Flowers can- 
not speak.’ ’ 

“No, certainly not,” replied the student; “but they 
can make signs. Have you not often seen that when 
the wind blows they nod at one another, and rustle all 
their green leaves?” 

“Can the professor understand the signs?” asked 
Ida. 

“Yes, to be sure he can. He went one morning into 
his garden and saw a stinging-nettle making signs with 
its leaves to a beautiful red carnation. It was saying, 
‘You are so pretty, I like you very much.’ But the 
professor did not approve of such nonsense, so he 
clapped his hands on the nettle to stop it. Then the 
leaves, which are its fingers, stung him so sharply that 
he has never ventured to touch a nettle since.” 

“Oh, how funny!” said Ida, and she laughed. 

“How can any one put such notions into a child’s 
head?” said a tiresome lawyer, who had come to pay 
a visit. He did not like the student, and would grum- 
ble when he saw him cutting out droll or amusing 
pictures. Sometimes it would be a man hanging on a 
gibbet and holding a heart in his hand as if he had been 
stealing hearts. Sometimes it was an old witch riding 
through the air on a broom and carrying her husband 
on her nose. But the lawyer did not like such jokes, 
and he would say as he had just said, “How can any 
97 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


one put such nonsense into a child’s head! what ab- 
surd fancies they are !” 

But to little Ida, all these stories which the student 
told her about the flowers seemed very droll, and she 
thought over them a great deal. The flowers did hang 
their heads, because they had been dancing all night, 
and were very tired, and most likely they were ill. 
Then she took them into the room where a number of 
toys lay on a pretty little table, and the whole of the 
table drawer besides was full of beautiful things. Her 
doll Sophy lay in the doll’s bed asleep, and little Ida 
said to her, “You must really get up, Sophy, and be 
content to lie in the drawer to-night ; the poor flowers 
are ill, and they must lie in your bed, then perhaps they 
will get well again.” So she took the doll out, who 
looked quite cross, and said not a single word, for she 
was angry at being turned out of her bed. Ida placed 
the flowers in the doll’s bed, and drew the quilt over 
them. Then she told them to lie quite still and be 
good, while she made some tea for them, so that they 
might be quite well and able to get up the next morn- 
ing. And she drew the curtains close round the little 
bed, so that the sun might not shine in their eyes. 
During the whole evening she could not help thinking 
of what the student had told her. And before she 
went to bed herself, she was obliged to peep behind 
the curtains into the garden where all her mother’s 
beautiful flowers grew, hyacinths and tulips, and many 
others. Then she whispered to them quite softly, “I 
know you are going to a ball to-night.” But the flow- 
98 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


ers appeared as if they did not understand, and not 
a leaf moved; still Ida felt quite sure she knew all 
about it. 

She lay awake a long time after she was in bed, 
thinking how pretty it must be to see all the beautiful 
flowers dancing in the king’s garden. “I wonder if my 
flowers have really been there?” she said to herself, 
and then she fell asleep. In the night she awoke; 
she had been dreaming of the flowers and of the 
student, as well as of the tiresome lawyer who found 
fault with him. It was quite still in Ida’s bedroom; 
the night-lamp burnt on the table, and her father and 
mother were asleep. 1 ‘ I wonder if my flowers are still 
lying in Sophy’s bed?” she thought to herself; “how 
much I should like to know!” She raised herself a 
little, and glanced at the door of the room where all 
her flowers and playthings lay; it was partly open, 
and as she listened, it seemed as if some one in the 
room was playing the piano, but softly and more 
prettily than she had ever before heard it. “Now 
all the flowers are certainly dancing in there,” she 
thought; “oh, how much I should like to see them!” 
but she did not dare to move for fear of disturbing 
her father and mother. “If they would only come in 
here,” she thought; but they did not come, and the 
music continued to play so beautifully, and was so 
pretty, that she could resist no longer. She crept out 
of her little bed, went softly to the door, and looked 
into the room. 

Oh, what a splendid sight there was to be sure! 

99 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


There was no night-lamp burning, but the room ap- 
peared quite light, for the moon shone through the 
window upon the floor, and made it almost like day. 
All the hyacinths and tulips stood in two long rows 
down the room, not a single flower remained in the 
window, and the flower-pots were all empty. The 
flowers were dancing gracefully on the floor, making 
turns and holding each other by their long green leaves 
as they swung round. At the piano sat a large yellow 
lily which little Ida was sure she had seen in the sum- 
mer, for she remembered the student saying she was 
very much like Miss Lina, one of Ida’s friends. They 
all laughed at him then, but now it seemed to little 
Ida as if the tall, yellow flower was really like the 
young lady. She had just the same manners while 
playing, bending her long yellow face from side to 
side, and nodding in time to the beautiful music. 

Then she saw a large purple crocus jump into the 
middle of the table where the playthings stood, go up 
to the doll’s bedstead and draw back the curtains; 
there lay the sick flowers, but they got up directly, 
and nodded to the others as a sign that they wished 
to dance with them. The old rough doll, with the 
broken mouth, stood up and bowed to the pretty flow- 
ers. They did not look ill at all now, but jumped 
about and were very merry, yet none of them noticed 
little Ida. Presently it seemed as if something fell 
from the table. Ida looked that way, and saw a slight 
carnival rod jumping down among the flowers as if 
it belonged to them; it was, however, very smooth and 
100 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


neat, and a little wax doll with a broad-brimmed hat 
on her head, like the one worn by the lawyer, sat 
upon it. The carnival rod hopped about among the 
flowers on its three red stilted feet, and stamped quite 
loud when it danced the Mazurka; the flowers could 
not perform this dance, they were too light to stamp 
in that manner. All at once the wax doll which rode 
on the carnival rod seemed to grow larger and taller, 
and it turned round and said to the paper flowers, 
“How can you put such things in a child’s head? they 
are all foolish fancies ;” and then the doll was ex- 
actly like the lawyer with the broad-brimmed hat, and 
looked as yellow and as cross as he did; but the paper 
dolls struck him on his thin legs, and he shrunk up 
again and became quite a little wax doll. This was 
very amusing, and Ida could not help laughing. The 
carnival rod went on dancing, and the lawyer was 
obliged to dance also. It was no use for him to make 
himself great and tall, or to remain a little wax doll 
with a large black hat; still he must dance. Then at 
last the other flowers interceded for him, especially 
those who had lain in the doll’s bed, and the carnival 
rod gave up his dancing. At the same moment a loud 
knocking was heard in the drawer, where Ida’s doll 
Sophy lay with many other toys. Then the rough doll 
ran to the end of the table, laid himself flat down 
upon it, and began to pull the drawer out a little way. 

Sophy raised herself, and looked round quite aston- 
ished. “There must be a ball here to-night,” she said. 
“Why did not somebody tell me?” 

101 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


“Will you dance with me?” said the rough doll. 

“You are the right sort to dance with, certainly,” 
said she, turning her hack upon him. 

Then she seated herself on the edge of the drawer, 
and thought that perhaps one of the flowers would ask 
her to dance ; hut none of them did. Then she coughed, 
“Hem, hem, a-hem”; but for all that no partner came. 
The shabby doll now danced quite alone, and not very 
badly, after all. As none of the flowers seemed to 
notice Sophy, she let herself down from the drawer 
to the floor, so as to make a very great noise. All the 
flowers came round her directly, and asked if she had 
hurt herself, especially those who had lain in her bed. 
But she was not hurt at all, and Ida’s flowers thanked 
her for the use of the nice bed, and were very kind to 
her. They led her into the middle of the room, where 
the moon shone, and danced with her, while all the 
other flowers formed a circle round them. Then Sophy 
was very happy, and said they might keep her bed; 
she did not mind lying in the drawer at all. But the 
flowers thanked her very much, and said, — 

“We cannot live long. To-morrow morning we shall 
be quite dead ; and you must tell little Ida to bury us 
in the garden, near the grave of the canary; then, in 
the summer we shall wake up again, and be more 
beautiful than ever.” 

“No, you must not die,” said Sophy, as she kissed the 
flowers. 

Then the door of the room opened and a number of 
beautiful flowers danced in. Ida could not imagine 
102 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


where they could have come from, unless they were the 
flowers from the king’s garden. First came two lovely 
roses, with little golden crowns on their heads; these 
were the king and queen. Beautiful stocks and carna- 
tions followed, bowing to every one present. They 
had also music with them. Large poppies and peonies 
had pea-shells for instruments, and blew into them till 
they were quite red in the face. The bunches of blue 
hyacinths and the little white snowdrops jingled their 
bell-like flowers, as if they were real bells. Then came 
many more flowers: blue violets, purple heart ’s-ease, 
daisies, and lilies of the valley, and they all danced to- 
gether, and kissed each other. It was very beautiful 
to behold. 

At last the flowers wished each other good night. 
Then little Ida crept back into bed again, and dreamt 
of all she had seen. When she arose the next morn- 
ing, she went quickly to the little table, to see if the 
flowers were still there. She drew aside the curtains 
of the little bed. There they all lay, but quite faded ; 
much more so than the day before. Sophy was lying 
in the drawer where Ida had placed her; but she looked 
very sleepy. 

“Do you remember what the flowers told you to say 
to me?” asked little Ida. But Sophy looked quite 
stupid, and said not a single word. 

“You are not kind at all,” said Ida; “and yet they 
all danced with you.” 

Then she took a little paper box, on which were 
painted beautiful birds, and laid the dead flowers in it. 
103 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“This shall be your pretty coffin,’ ’ she said; “and 
by-and-by, when my cousins come to visit me, they shall 
help me to bury you out in the garden; so that next 
summer you may grow up again more beautiful than 
ever. ’ 9 

Her cousins were two good-tempered boys, whose 
names were James and Adolphus. Their father had 
given them each a bow and arrow, and they had brought 
them to show Ida. She told them about the poor 
flowers which were dead ; and as soon as they obtained 
permission, they went with her to bury them. The two 
boys walked first, with their crossbows on their shoul- 
ders, and little Ida followed, carrying the pretty box 
containing the dead flowers. They dug a little grave 
in the garden. Ida kissed her flowers, and then laid 
them, with the box, in the earth. James and Adolphus 
then fired their crossbows over the grave, as they had 
neither guns nor cannons. 


104 


THE BOTTLE NECK 


LOSE to the corner of a street, among other 
abodes of poverty, stood an exceedingly tall, nar- 
row house, which had been so knocked about by time 
that it seemed out of joint in every direction. This 
house was inhabited by poor people, but the deepest 
poverty was apparent in the garret lodging in the 
gable. In front of the little window, an old, bent bird- 
cage hung in the sunshine, which had not even a proper 
water-glass, but instead of it the broken neck of a 
bottle, turned upside down, and a cork stuck in to 
make it hold the water with which it was filled. An 
old maid stood at the window ; she had hung chickweed 
over the cage, and the little linnet which it contained 
hopped from perch to perch and sang and twittered 
merrily. 

“Yes, it’s all very well for you to sing,” said the 
bottle neck : that is, he did not really speak the words 
as we do, for the neck of a bottle cannot speak; but 
he thought them to himself in his own mind, just as 
people sometimes talk quietly to themselves. 

“Yes, you may sing very well, you have all your 
limbs uninjured ; you should feel what it is like to lose 
your body, and have only a neck and a mouth left, 
with a cork stuck in it, as I have: you wouldn’t sing 
then, I know. After all, it is just as well that there 
105 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


are some who can be happy. I have no reason to sing, 
nor could I sing now if I were ever so happy ; hut when 
I was a whole bottle, and they rubbed me with a cork, 
didn ’t I sing then ? I used to be called a complete lark. 
I remember when I went out to a picnic with the fur- 
rier’s family, on the day his daughter was betrothed, 
— it seems as if it only happened yesterday. I have 
gone through a great deal in my time, when I come to 
recollect: I have been in the fire and in the water; I 
have been deep in the earth, and have mounted higher 
in the air than most other people, and now I am swing- 
ing here, outside a bird-cage, in the air and the sun- 
shine. Oh, indeed, it would be worth while to hear my 
history ; but I do not speak it aloud, for a good reason 
— because I cannot..” 

Then the bottle neck related his history, which was 
really rather remarkable ; he, in fact, related it to him- 
self, or, at least, thought it in his own mind. The little 
bird sang his own song merrily; in the street below 
there was driving and running to and fro; every one 
thought of his own affairs, or perhaps of nothing at 
all ; but the bottle neck thought deeply. He thought of 
the blazing furnace in the factory, where he had been 
blown into life; he remembered how hot it felt when 
he was placed in the heated oven, the home from which 
he sprang, and that he had a strong inclination to leap 
out again directly; but after a while it became cooler, 
and he found himself very comfortable. He had been 
placed in a row, with a whole regiment of his brothers 
and sisters all brought out of the same furnace ; some 
106 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


of them had certainly been blown into champagne bot- 
tles, and others into beer bottles, which made a little 
difference between them. In the world it often hap- 
pens that a beer bottle may contain the most precious 
wine, and a champagne bottle be filled with blacking; 
but even in decay it may always be seen whether a man 
has been well born. Nobility remains noble, as a 
champagne bottle remains the same, even with black- 
ing in its interior. When the bottles were packed our 
bottle was packed amongst them; it little expected 
then to finish its career as a bottle neck, or to be used 
as a water-glass to a bird’s-cage, which is, after all, 
a place of honor, for it is to be of some use in the 
world. The bottle did not behold the light of day 
again, until it was unpacked with the rest in the wine 
merchant’s cellar, and, for the first time, rinsed with 
water, which caused very curious sensations. There 
it lay empty, and without a cork, and it had a peculiar 
feeling, as if it wanted something it knew not what. 
At last it was filled with rich and costly wine, a cork 
was placed in it, and sealed down. Then it was la- 
beled “ first quality,” as if it had carried off the first 
prize at an examination; however, the wine and the 
bottle were both good, and while we are young is the 
time for poetry. There were sounds of song within 
the bottle, of things it could not understand, of green 
sunny mountains, where the vines grow and where the 
merry vine-dressers laugh, sing, and are merry. “ Ah, 
how beautiful is life!” All these tones of joy and 
song in the bottle were like the working of a young 
107 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


poet’s brain, who often knows not the meaning of the 
tones which are sounding within him. One morning 
the bottle found a purchaser in the furrier’s appren- 
tice, who was told to bring one of the best bottles of 
wine. It was placed in the provision basket with ham 
and cheese and sausages. The sweetest fresh butter 
and the finest bread were put into the basket by the 
furrier’s daughter, for she packed it. She was young 
and pretty; her brown eyes laughed, and a smile lin- 
gered round her mouth as sweet as that in her eyes. 
She had delicate hands, beautifully white, and her neck 
was whiter still. It could easily be seen that she was 
a very lovely girl, and as yet she was not engaged. 
The provision basket lay in the lap of the young girl 
as the family drove out to the forest, and the neck of 
the bottle peeped out from between the folds of the 
white napkin. There was the red wax on the cork, and 
the bottle looked straight at the young girl’s face, and 
also at the face of the young sailor who sat near her. 
He was a young friend, the son of a portrait painter. 
He had lately passed his examination with honor, as 
mate, and the next morning he was to sail in his ship 
to a distant coast. There had been a great deal of talk 
on this subject while the basket was being packed, and 
during the conversation the eyes and the mouth of 
the furrier’s daughter did not wear a very joyful ex- 
pression. The young people wandered away into the 
green wood, and talked together. What did they talk 
about? The bottle could not say, for he was in the 
provision basket. It remained there a long time ; but 
108 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


when at last it was brought forth it appeared as if 
something pleasant had happened, for every one was 
laughing; the furrier's daughter laughed too, but she 
said very little, and her cheeks were like two roses. 
Then her father took the bottle and the cork-screw into 
his hands. What a strange sensation it was to have 
the cork drawn for the first time! The bottle could 
never after that forget the performance of that mo- 
ment ; indeed there was quite a convulsion within him 
as the cork flew out, and a gurgling sound as the wine 
was poured forth into the glasses. 

“Long life to the betrothed,' ' cried the papa, and 
every glass was emptied to the dregs, while the young 
sailor kissed his beautiful bride. 

“Happiness and blessing to you both,” said the old 
people — father and mother; and the young man filled 
the glasses again. 

“Safe return, and a wedding this day next year,” he 
cried; and when the glasses were empty he took the 
bottle, raised it on high, and said, “Thou hast been 
present here on the happiest day of my life ; thou shalt 
never be used by others!” So saying, he hurled it 
high in the air. 

The furrier's daughter thought she should never see 
it again, but she was mistaken. It fell among the 
rushes on the borders of a little woodland lake. The 
bottle neck remembered well how long it lay there 
unseen : “I gave them wine, and they gave me muddy 
water,” he had said to himself, “but I suppose it was 
all well meant.” He could no longer see the betrothed 
109 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


couple, nor the cheerful old people ; but for a long time 
he could hear them rejoicing and singing. At length 
there came by two peasant boys, who peeped in among 
the reeds and spied the bottle. Then they took it up 
and carried it home with them, so that once more it 
was provided for. At home in their wooden cottage 
these boys had an elder brother, a sailor, who was 
about to start on a long voyage. He had been there 
the day before to say farewell, and his mother was now 
very busy packing up various things for him to take 
with him on his voyage. In the evening his father was 
going to carry the parcel to the town to see his son 
once more, and take him a farewell greeting from his 
mother. A small bottle had already been filled with 
herb tea, mixed with brandy, and wrapped in a parcel : 
but when the boys came in they brought with them a 
larger and stronger bottle, which they had found. 
This bottle would hold much more than the little one, 
and they all said the brandy would be good for com- 
plaints of the stomach, especially as it was mixed with 
medical herbs. The liquid which they now poured into 
the bottle was not like the red wine with which it had 
once been filled ; these were bitter drops, but they are 
of great use sometimes — for the stomach. The new 
large bottle was to go, not the little one : so the bottle 
once more started on its travels. It was taken on 
board (for Peter Jensen was one of the crew) the very 
same ship in which the young mate was to sail. But 
the mate did not see the bottle: indeed, if he had he 
would not have known it, or supposed it was the one 
110 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


out of which they had drunk to the felicity of the be- 
trothed and to the prospect of a marriage on his own 
happy return. Certainly the bottle no longer poured 
forth wine, but it contained something quite as good; 
and so it happened that whenever Peter Jensen 
brought it out, his messmates gave it the name of “the 
apothecary,” for it contained the best medicine to cure 
the stomach, and he gave it out quite willingly as long 
as a drop remained. Those were happy days, and the 
bottle would sing when rubbed with a cork, and it was 
called a “great lark,” “Peter Jensen’s lark.” 

Long days and months rolled by, during which the 
bottle stood empty in a corner, when a storm arose — 
whether on the passage out or home it could not tell, 
for it had never been ashore. It was a terrible storm; 
great waves arose, darkly heaving and tossing the ves- 
sel to and fro. The mainmast was split asunder, the 
ship sprang a leak, and the pumps became useless, 
while all around was black as night. At the last mo- 
ment, when the ship was sinking, the young mate wrote 
on a piece of paper, “We are going down: God’s will 
be done.” Then he wrote the name of his betrothed, 
his own name, and that of the ship. Then he put the 
leaf in an empty bottle that happened to be at hand, 
corked it down tightly, and threw it into the foaming 
sea. He knew not that it was the very same bottle 
from which the goblet of joy and hope had once been 
filled for him, and now it was tossing on the waves 
with his last greeting, and a message from the dead. 
The ship sank, and the crew sank with her; but the 
111 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


bottle flew on like a bird, for it bore within it a loving 
letter from a loving heart. And as the sun rose and 
set, the bottle felt as at the time of its first existence, 
when in the heated glowing stove it had a longing to 
fly away. It outlived the storms and the calm, it 
struck against no rocks, was not devoured by sharks, 
but drifted on for more than a year, sometimes to- 
wards the north, sometimes towards the south, just as 
the current carried it. It was in all other ways its 
own master, but even of that one may get tired. The 
written leaf, the last farewell of the bridegroom to his 
bride, would only bring sorrow when once it reached 
her hands; but where were those hands, so soft and 
delicate, which had once spread the table-cloth on the 
fresh grass in the green wood, on the day of her be- 
trothal? Ah, yes! where was the furrier’s daughter? 
and where was the land which might lie nearest to her 
home? 

The bottle knew not ; it traveled onward and onward, 
and at last all this wandering about became weari- 
some: at all events it was not his usual occupation. 
But it had to travel, till at length it reached land — a 
foreign country. Not a word spoken in this country 
could the bottle understand; it was a language it had 
never before heard, and it is a great loss not to be 
able to understand a language. The bottle was fished 
out of the water, and examined on all sides. The little 
letter contained within it was discovered, taken out, 
and turned and twisted in every direction; but the 
people could not understand what was written upon it. 

112 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


They could be quite sure that the bottle had been 
thrown overboard from a vessel, and that something 
about it was written on this paper : but what was writ- 
ten? that was the question, — so the paper was put back 
into the bottle, and then both were put away in a large 
cupboard of one of the great houses of the town. 
Whenever any strangers arrived, the paper was taken 
out and turned over and over, so that the address, 
which was only written in pencil, became almost illegi- 
ble, and at last no one could distinguish any letters on 
it at all. For a whole year the bottle remained stand- 
ing in the cupboard, and then it was taken up to the 
loft, where it soon became covered with dust and cob- 
webs. Ah ! how often then it thought of those better 
days — of the times when in the fresh, green wood, it 
had poured forth rich wine; or, while rocked by the 
swelling waves, it had carried in its bosom a secret, a 
letter, a last parting sigh. For full twenty years it 
stood in the loft, and it might have stayed there longer 
but that the house was going to be rebuilt. The bottle 
was discovered when the roof was taken off; they 
talked about it, but the bottle did not understand what 
they said — a language is not to be learnt by living in 
a loft, even for twenty years. “If I had been down- 
stairs in the room, ,, thought the bottle, “I might have 
learnt it.” It was now washed and rinsed, which 
process was really quite necessary, and afterwards it 
looked clean and transparent, and felt young again in 
its old age ; but the paper which it had carried so faith- 
fully was destroyed in the washing. They filled the 

113 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


bottle with seeds, though it scarcely knew what had 
been placed in it. Then they corked it down tightly, 
and carefully wrapped it up. There not even the light 
of a torch or lantern could reach it, much less the 
brightness of the sun or moon. “And yet,” thought 
the bottle, “men go on a journey that they may see as 
much as possible, and I can see nothing.” However, 
it did something quite as important ; it traveled to the 
place of its destination, and was unpacked. 

“What trouble they have taken with the bottle over 
yonder ! ’ 9 said one, ‘ * and very likely it is broken after 
alL ,, But the bottle was not broken, and, better still, 
it understood every word that was said : this language 
it had heard at the furnaces and at the wine mer- 
chant’s; in the forest and on the ship, — it was the only 
good old language it could understand. It had re- 
turned home, and the language was as a welcome greet- 
ing. For very joy, it felt ready to jump out of peo- 
ple’s hands, and scarcely noticed that its cork had been 
drawn, and its contents emptied out, till it found itself 
carried to a cellar, to be left there and forgotten. 
* ‘ There ’s no place like home, even if it ’s a cellar. ’ ’ It 
never occurred to him to think that he might lie there 
for years, he felt so comfortable. For many long 
years he remained in the cellar, till at last some people 
came to carry away the bottles, and ours amongst the 
number. 

Out in a garden there was a great festival. Bril- 
liant lamps hung in festoons from tree to tree; and 
paper lanterns, through which the light shone till they 

114 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


looked like transparent tulips. It was a beautiful eve- 
ning, and the weather mild and clear. The stars twin- 
kled ; and on the new moon, which was in the form of 
a crescent, lay the shadowy disc of the whole moon, 
that looked like a gray globe with a golden rim : it was 
a beautiful sight for those who had good eyes. The 
illumination extended even to the most retired of the 
garden walks, though none were so retired that any 
one need lose himself there. In the borders were 
placed bottles, each containing a light, and among them 
the bottle with which we are acquainted, and whose 
fate it was, one day, to be only a bottle neck, and to 
serve as a water-glass to a bird’s-cage. Everything 
here appeared lovely to our bottle, for it was again 
in the green wood, amid joy and feasting: again it 
heard music and song, and the noise and murmur of a 
crowd, especially in that part of the garden where the 
lamps blazed, and the paper lanterns displayed their 
brilliant colors. It stood in a distant walk certainly, 
but a place pleasant for contemplation; and it carried 
a light, and was at once useful and ornamental. In 
such an hour it is easy to forget that one has spent 
twenty years in a loft, and it is a good thing to be able 
to do so. Close before the bottle passed a single pair, 
like the bridal pair — the mate and the furrier’s daugh- 
ter — who had so long ago wandered in the wood. It 
seemed to the bottle as if he were living that time over 
again. Not only the guests but other people were 
walking in the garden, who were allowed to witness the 
splendor and the festivities. Among the latter came 
115 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


an old maid, who seemed to be quite alone in the world. 
She was thinking, like the bottle, of the green wood, 
and of a young betrothed pair, who were closely con- 
nected with herself ; she was thinking of that hour, the 
happiest of her life, in which she had taken part, when 
she had herself been one of that betrothed pair; such 
hours are never to be forgotten, let a -maiden be as old 
as she may. But she did not recognize the bottle, 
neither did the bottle notice the old maid. And so we 
often pass each other in the world when we meet with- 
out recognizing each other, as did these two, even while 
together in the same town. 

The bottle was taken from the garden, and again 
sent to a wine merchant, where it was once more filled 
with wine, and sold to an aeronaut, who was to make 
an ascent in his balloon on the following Sunday. A 
great crowd assembled to witness the sight; military 
music had been engaged, and many other preparations 
made. The bottle saw it all from the basket in which 
he lay close to a live rabbit. The rabbit was quite ex- 
cited because he knew that he was to be taken up, and 
let down again in a parachute. The bottle, however, 
knew nothing of the “up,” or the “down”; he saw 
only that the balloon was swelling larger and larger 
till it could swell no more and began to rise and be 
restless. Then the ropes which held it were cut 
through, and the aerial ship rose in the air with the 
aeronaut and the basket containing the bottle and the 
rabbit, while the music sounded and all the people 
shouted ‘ 1 Hurrah. ’ 9 


116 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“This is a wonderful journey up into the air,” 
thought the bottle; “it is a new way of sailing, and 
here, at least, there is no fear of striking against any- 
thing.” 

Thousands of people gazed at the balloon, and the 
old maid who was in the garden saw it also; for she 
stood at the open window of the garret, by which hung 
the cage containing the linnet, who then had no water- 
glass, hut was obliged to be contented with an old cup. 
In the window-sill stood a myrtle in a pot, and this 
had been pushed a little on one side, that it might not 
fall out ; for the old maid was leaning out of the win- 
dow, that she might see. And she did see distinctly 
the aeronaut in the balloon, and how he let down the 
rabbit in the parachute, and then drank to the health 
of all the spectators in the wine from the bottle. After 
doing this, he hurled it high into the air. How little 
she thought that this was the very same bottle which 
her friend had thrown aloft in her honor, on that 
happy day of rejoicing, in the green wood, in her 
youthful days ! The bottle had no time to think, when 
raised so suddenly; and before it was aware, it reached 
the highest point it had ever attained in its life. Stee- 
ples and roofs lay far, far beneath it, and the people 
looked as tiny as possible. Then it began to descend 
much more rapidly than the rabbit had done, made 
somersaults in the air, and felt itself quite young and 
unfettered, although it was half full of wine. But 
this did not last long. What a journey it was! All 
the people could see the bottle; for the sun shone upon 
117 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


it. The balloon was already far away, and very soon 
the bottle was far away also; for it fell upon a roof, 
and broke in pieces. But the pieces had got such an 
impetus in them, that they could not stop themselves. 
They went jumping and rolling about, till at last they 
fell into the courtyard, and were broken into still, 
smaller pieces ; only the neck of the bottle managed to, 
keep whole, and it was broken off as clean as if it had 
been cut with a diamond. 

“That would make a capital bird’s glass,” said one 
of the cellar-men; but none of them had either a bird 
or a cage, and it was not to be expected they would pro- 
vide one just because they had found a bottle neck that 
could be used as a glass. But the old maid who lived 
in the garret had a bird, and it really might be useful 
to her; so the bottle neck was provided with a cork, 
and taken up to her; and, as it often happens in life, 
the part that had been uppermost was now turned 
downwards, and it was filled with fresh water. Then 
they hung it in the cage of the little bird, who sang and 
twittered more merrily than ever. 

“Ah, you have good reason to sing,” said the bottle 
neck, which was looked upon as something very re- 
markable, because it had been in a balloon; nothing 
further was known of its history. As it hung there in 
the bird’s-cage, it could hear the noise and murmur of 
the people in the street below, as well as the conversa- 
tion of the old maid in the room within. An old friend 
had just come to visit her, and they talked, not about 
the bottle neck, but of the myrtle in the window. 

118 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“No, yon must not spend a dollar for your daugh- 
ter's bridal bouquet," said the old maid; “you shall 
have a beautiful little bunch for a nosegay, full of blos- 
soms. Do you see how splendidly the tree has grown ? 
It has been raised from only a little sprig of myrtle 
that you gave me on the day after my betrothal, and 
from which I was to make my own bridal bouquet when 
a year had passed ; but that day never came : the eyes 
were closed which were to have been my light and joy 
through life. In the depths of the sea my beloved 
sleeps sweetly ; the myrtle has become an old tree, and 
I am a still older woman. Before the sprig you gave 
me faded, I took a spray and planted it in the earth ; 
and now, as you see, it has become a large tree, and 
a bunch of the blossoms shall at last appear at a wed- 
ding festival, in the bouquet of your daughter." 

There were tears in the eyes of the old maid, as she 
spoke of the beloved of her youth, and of their be- 
trothal in the wood. Many thoughts came into her 
mind; but the thought never came, that quite close to 
her, in that very window, was a remembrance of those 
olden times, — the neck of the bottle which had, as it 
were, shouted for joy when the cork flew out with a 
bang on the betrothal day. But the bottle neck did not 
recognize the old maid; he had not been listening to 
what she had related, perhaps because he was thinking 
so much about her. 


119 


THE GIRL WHO TROD ON A LOAF 


I DARESAY you have heard of the girl who stepped 
on a loaf, so as not to soil her shoes, and all the 
misfortunes that befell her in consequence. At any 
rate the story has been written and printed too. 

She was a poor child, of a proud and arrogant na- 
ture, and her disposition was bad from the beginning. 
When she was quite tiny, her greatest delight was to 
catch flies and pull their wings off, to make creeping 
insects of them. Then she would catch chafers and 
beetles and stick them on a pin, after which she would 
push a leaf or a bit of paper close enough for them to 
seize with their feet, for the pleasure of seeing them 
writhe and wriggle in their efforts to free themselves 
from the pins. 

“The chafer is reading now,” said little Inger; 
“look at it turning over the page !” 

She got worse rather than better as she grew older ; 
but she was very pretty, and that no doubt was her 
misfortune, or she might have had many a beating 
which she never got. 

“It will take a heavy blow to bend that head,” said 
her own mother. “Asa child you have often trampled 
on my apron ; I fear when you are grown up you will 
trample on my heart ! * ’ 

This she did with a vengeance. 

120 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


She was sent into service in the country with some 
rich people. They treated her as if she had been their 
own child and dressed her in the same style. She 
grew prettier and prettier, but her pride grew too. 

When she had been with them a year, her employers 
said to her, “You ought to go home to see your par- 
ents, little Inger !” 

So she went, but she went to show herself only, so 
that they might see how grand she was. When she 
got to the town gates, and saw the young men and 
maids gossiping round the pond, and her mother sit- 
ting among them with a bundle of sticks she had picked 
up in the woods, Inger turned away. She was 
ashamed that one so fine as herself should have such 
a ragged old woman who picked up sticks for her 
mother. She was not a bit sorry that she had turned 
back, only angry. 

Another half year passed. 

“Little Inger, you really ought to go and see your 
old parents,’ ’ said her mistress. “Here is a large loaf 
of wheaten bread, you may take to them. They will 
be pleased to see you.” 

Inger put on all her best clothes, and her fine new 
shoes; she held up her skirts and picked her steps 
carefully so as to keep her shoes nice and clean. Now 
no one could blame her for this; but when she came to 
the path through the marsh a great part of it was wet 
and muddy, and she threw the loaf into the mud for a 
stepping-stone, to get over with dry shoes. As she 
stood there with one foot on the loaf and was lifting 
121 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


up the other for the next step, the loaf sank deeper 
and deeper with her till she entirely disappeared. 
Nothing was to be seen but a black bubbling pool. 

Now this is the story. 

But what had become of her! She went down to 
the Marsh-wife who has a brewery down there. The 
Marsh-wife is own sister to the Elf-king, and aunt to 
the Elf-maidens who are well enough known. They 
have had verses written about them and pictures 
painted; but all that people know about the Marsh- 
wife is that when the mist rises over the meadows in 
the summer, she is at her brewing. It was into this 
brewery that little Inger fell, and no one can stand 
being there long. A scavenger’s cart is sweet com- 
pared to the Marsh- wife’s brewery. The smell from 
the barrels is enough to turn people faint, and the bar- 
rels are so close together that no one can pass between 
them, but wherever there is a little chink it is filled up 
with noisome toads and slimy snakes. Little Inger 
fell among all this horrid living filth; it was so icy 
cold that she shuddered from head to foot, and her 
limbs grew quite stiff. The loaf stuck fast to her feet, 
and it drew her down just as an amber button draws 
a bit of straw. 

The Marsh-wife was at home. Old Bogey and his 
great-grandmother were paying her a visit. The 
great-grandmother is a very venomous old woman, and 
she is never idle. She never goes out without her 
work, and she had it with her to-day too. She was 
busily making gad-about leather to put into people’s 
122 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


shoes, so that the wearer might have no rest. She em- 
broidered lies, and strung together all the idle words 
which fell to the ground, to make mischief of them. 
Oh, yes, old great-grandmother can knit and embroider 
in fine style. 

As soon as she saw little Inger, she put up her eye- 
glass and looked at her through it. “That girl has 
got something in her,” she said; “I should like to 
have her as a remembrance of my visit. She would 
make a very good statue in my great-grandson’s outer 
corridor.” 

So Inger was given to her and this was how she got 
to Bogeyland. People don’t always get there by such 
a direct route, though it is easy enough to get there 
in more roundabout ways. 

What a never-ending corridor that was to be sure; 
it made one giddy to look either backwards or for- 
wards. Here stood an ignominious crew waiting for 
the door of mercy to be opened, but long might they 
wait. Great, fat, sprawling spiders spun webs of a 
thousand years round and round their feet ; and these 
webs were like footscrews and held them as in a vice, 
or as though bound with a copper chain. Besides, 
there was such everlasting unrest in every soul; the 
unrest of torment. The miser had forgotten the key 
of his money chest, he knew he had left it sticking 
in the lock. But it would take far too long to enumer- 
ate all the various tortures here. Inger experienced 
the torture of standing like a statue with a loaf tied 
to her feet. 


123 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


“This is what comes of trying to keep one’s feet 
clean!” said she to herself. “Look how they stare 
at me.” They did indeed stare at her, all their evil 
passions shone out of their eyes and spoke without 
words from their lips. They were a terrible sight. 
“It must be a pleasure to look at me!” thought Inger, 
“for I have a pretty face and nice clothes,” and then 
she turned her eyes to look at them, her neck was 
too stiff. 

But, oh, how dirty she had got in the Marshwife’s 
brewery; she had never thought of that. Her clothes 
were covered with slime, a snake had got among 
her hair, and hung dangling down her back. A toad 
looked out of every fold in her dress, croaking like 
an asthmatic pug-dog. It was most unpleasant. 
“But all the others down here look frightful too,” was 
her consolation. 

Worse than anything was the terrible hunger she 
felt, and she could not stoop down to break a bit of 
bread off the loaf she was standing on. No; her back 
had stiffened, her arms and hands had stiffened, and 
her whole body was like a pillar of stone. She could 
only turn her eyes, but she could turn them right 
round, so as to look backwards; and a horrible sight 
it was. And then came the flies, they crept upon her 
eyes, and however much she winked they would not 
fly away; they could not, for she had pulled off their 
wings and made creeping insects of them. That was 
indeed a torment added to her gnawing hunger; she 
seemed at last to be absolutely empty. 

124 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“If this is to go on long I shan’t be able to bear 
it,” said she; but it did go on, and bear it she 
must. 

Then a scalding tear fell upon her forehead, it 
trickled over her face and bosom right down to the 
loaf; then another fell, and another, till there was a 
perfect shower. 

Who was crying for little Inger! Had she not a 
mother on earth? Tears of sorrow shed by a mother 
for her child will always reach it; but they do not 
bring healing, they burn and make the torment fifty 
times worse. Then this terrible hunger again, and 
she not able to get at the bread under her feet. She 
felt at last as if she had been feeding upon herself, 
and had become a mere hollow reed which conducts 
every sound. She distinctly heard everything that 
was said on earth about herself, and she heard noth- 
ing but hard words. 

Certainly her mother wept bitterly and sorrowfully, 
but at the same time she said, “Pride goes before a 
fall! There was your misfortune, Inger! How you 
have grieved your mother.” 

Her mother and every one on earth knew all about 
her sin, how she had stepped upon the loaf, and sunk 
down under the earth, and so was lost. The cow-herd 
had told them so much ; he had seen it himself from the 
hillock where he was standing. 

“How you have grieved your mother, Inger,” said 
the poor woman. “But then I always said you 
would!” 


125 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Oh, that I had never been born! ,, thought Inger 
then. “I should have been much better off. My 
mother’s tears are no good now.” 

She heard the good people, her employers, who had 
been like parents to her, talking about her. “She was 
a sinful child,” they said. “She did not value the 
gifts of God, but trod them under foot. She will find 
it hard to open the door of mercy.” 

“They ought to have brought me up better!” 
thought Inger; “they should have knocked the non- 
sense out of me if it was there. ’ 9 

She heard that a song had been written about her 
and sung all over the country, ■ ‘ The arrogant girl who 
trod on a loaf to keep her shoes clean.” 

“That I should hear that old story so often, and 
have to suffer so much for it!” thought Inger. 

“The others ought to be punished for their sins, 
too,” said Inger; “there would be plenty to punish. 
Oh, how I am being tormented!” 

And her heart grew harder than her outer shell. 

“Nobody will ever get any better in this company! 
and I won’t be any better. Look, how they are all 
staring at me!” 

Her heart was full of anger and malice towards 
everybody. 

“Now they have got something to talk about up 
there! Oh, this torture ! ” 

She heard people telling her story to children, and 
the little ones always called her “wicked Inger” — 
“she was so naughty that she had to be tormented.” 

126 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


She heard nothing but hard words from the children ’s 
mouths. 

But one day when anger and hunger were gnawing 
at her hollow shell, she heard her name mentioned, and 
her story being told to an innocent child, a little girl, 
and the little creature burst into tears at the story 
of proud, vain Inger. 

“But will she never come up here again ?” asked 
the child, and the answer was, “She will never come 
up again.” 

“But if she was to ask pardon, and promise never 
to do it again?” 

“She won’t ask pardon,” they said. 

“But I want her to do it,” said the little girl who 
refused to be comforted. “I will give my doll’s house 
if she may only come up again, it is so dreadful for 
poor Inger. ’ ’ 

These words reached down into Inger ’s heart, and 
they seemed to do her good. It was the first time 
that any one said “Poor Inger,” without adding any- 
thing about her misdeeds. A little innocent child was 
weeping and praying for her, and it made her feel 
quite odd ; she would have liked to cry herself, but she 
could not shed a tear, and this was a further torment. 

As the years passed above, so they went on below 
without any change : she seldomer heard sounds from 
above, and she was less talked about. But one day 
she was aware of a sigh. “Inger, Inger, what a grief 
you have been to me, but I always knew you wmuld.” 
It was her mother who was dying. Occasionally she 

127 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


heard her name mentioned by her old employers, and 
the gentlest words her mistress used were, “shall I ever 
see you again, Inger? One never knows whither one 
may go!” 

But Inger knew very well that her good kindly 
mistress could never come to the place where she was. 

Again a long bitter period passed. Then Inger again 
heard her name pronounced, and saw above her head 
what seemed to be two bright stars ; they were in fact 
two kind eyes which were closing on earth. So many 
years had gone by since the little girl had cried so 
bitterly at the story of “Poor Inger/ ’ that the child 
had grown to be an old woman whom the Lord was 
now calling to Himself. In the last hour when one’s 
whole life comes back to one, she remembered how as 
a little child she had wept bitter tears at the story of 
Inger. The impression was so clear to the old woman 
in the hour of death, that she exclaimed aloud, “Oh 
Lord, may I not, like Inger, have trodden on thy 
blessed gifts without thinking ; and may I not also have 
nourished pride in my heart, but in Tliy mercy Thou 
didst not let me fall ! Forsake me not now in my last 
hour ! ’ 9 

The old woman’s eyes closed, and the eyes of her 
soul were opened to see the hidden things, and as Inger 
had been so vividly present in her last thoughts, she 
saw now how deep she had sunk; and at the sight she 
burst into tears. Then she stood in the Kingdom of 
Heaven, as a child, weeping for poor Inger. Her tears 
and prayers echoed into the hollow, empty shell which 
12 § 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


surrounded the imprisoned, tortured soul, and it was 
quite overwhelmed by all this unexpected love from 
above. An angel of God weeping over her ! Why was 
this vouchsafed to her? The tortured soul recalled 
every earthly action it had ever performed, and at 
last it melted into tears, in a way Inger had never 
done. 

She was filled with grief for herself; it seemed as 
though the gate of mercy could never be opened to 
her. But as in humble contrition she acknowledged 
this, a ray of light shone into the gulf of destruction. 
The strength of the ray was far greater than that of 
the sunbeam which melts the snow-man built up by the 
boys in the garden; and sooner, much sooner, than a 
snowflake melts on the warm lips of a child, did Inger ’s 
stony form dissolve before it, and a little bird with 
lightning speed winged its way to the upper world. 
It was terribly shy and afraid of everything. It was 
ashamed of itself and afraid to meet the eye of any 
living being, so it hastily sought shelter in a chink in 
the wall. There it cowered, shuddering in every limb ; 
it could not utter a sound, for it had no voice. It sat 
for a long time before it could survey calmly all the 
wonders around. Yes, they were wonders indeed, the 
air was so sweet and fresh, the moon shone on brightly, 
the trees and bushes were so fragrant; and then the 
comfort of it all, its feathers were so clean and dainty. 

How all creation spoke of love and beauty! The 
bird would gladly have sung aloud all these thoughts 
stirring in its breast, but it had not the power. 
129 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


Gladly would it have caroled as do the cuckoos and 
nightingales in summer. The good God who hears 
the voiceless hymn of praise even of a worm, was also 
aware of this psalm of thanksgiving trembling in the 
breast of the bird, as the psalms of David echoed in 
his heart before they shaped themselves into words 
and melody. These thoughts and these voiceless songs 
grew and swelled for weeks ; they must have an outlet, 
and at the first attempt at a good deed this would 
be found. 

Then came the holy Christmas Feast. The peasants 
raised a pole against a well, and tied a sheaf of oats 
on to the top, so that the little birds might have a 
good meal on the happy Christmas day. 

The sun rose bright and shone upon the sheaf of 
oats, and the twittering birds surrounded the pole. 
Then from the chink in the wall came a feeble tweet- 
tweet; the swelling thoughts of the bird had found a 
voice, and this faint twitter was its hymn of praise. 
The thought of a good deed was awakened, and the 
bird flew out of its hiding-place; in the Kingdom of 
Heaven this bird was well known. 

It was a very hard winter, and all the water had 
thick ice over it. The birds and wild creatures had 
great difficulty in finding food. The little bird flew 
along the highways finding here and there in the tracks 
of the sledges a grain of corn. At the baiting places it 
also found a few morsels of bread, of which it would 
only eat a crumb, and gave the rest to the other starv- 
ing sparrows which it called up. Then it flew into 
130 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the town and peeped about. Wherever a loving hand 
had strewn bread crumbs for the birds, it only ate one 
crumb and gave the rest away. 

In the course of the winter the bird had collected and 
given away so many crumbs of bread, that they 
equaled in weight the whole loaf which little Inger 
had stepped upon to keep her shoes clean. When the 
last crumbs were found and given away, the bird’s 
gray wings became white and spread themselves wide. 

“ A tern is flying away over the sea,” said the chil- 
dren who saw the white bird. Now it dived into the 
sea, and now it soared up into the bright sunshine. It 
gleamed so brightly that it was not possible to see 
what became of it ; they said it flew right into the sun. 


131 


HOLGER THE DANE 


T HERE is an old castle in Denmark which is called 
Kronborg; it juts out into the Sound, and great 
ships sail past it every day by hundreds. There are 
Russian and English and Prussian ships, and many 
other nationalities; they all fire a salute when they 
pass the old castle; 6 ‘ boom/ ’ and the castle answers, 
‘ 4 boom.” That is the way cannons say “how do you 
do” and “thank you.” No ships sail in the winter, 
the water is frozen over, right up to the Swedish coast, 
and it becomes a great high road. Swedish and Dan- 
ish flags fly, and the Danes and the Swedes say “how 
do you do” and “thank you” to each other, not with 
cannons, but with a friendly shake of the hand. They 
buy fancy bread and cakes of each other, for strange 
food tastes best. But old Kronborg is always the 
chief feature, and down inside it, in the deep dark 
cellar, lives Holger the Dane. He is clad in steel and 
iron, and rests his head upon his strong arms, and his 
long beard hangs over the marble table where it has 
grown fast; he sleeps and dreams, but in his dreams 
he sees all that is happening up there in Denmark. 
Every Christmas Eve a holy angel comes and tells him 
that he has dreamt aright, and that he may go to 
sleep again, because Denmark is not yet in any real 
danger. But should danger come, then old Holger 
132 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the Dane will rise up, so that the table will burst 
asunder when he wrenches his beard away from it, 
then he will come forward and strike a blow that will 
resound in all parts of the world. 

An old grandfather was sitting telling his little 
grandson all this about Holger the Dane, and the little 
boy knew that all that his grandfather said was true. 
While the old man was talking, he sat carving a big 
wooden figure; it was to represent Holger the Dane 
as the figurehead of a ship; for the old grandfather 
was a carver, the sort of man who carves a figurehead 
for each ship, according to its name. Here he had 
carved Holger the Dane, who stood erect and proud, 
with his long beard. He held in his hand a great 
broadsword, and rested his other hand upon a shield 
with the Danish Arms. The old grandfather had so 
much to tell about remarkable Danish men and women, 
that the little boy at last thought he must know as much 
as Holger the Dane, who, after all, only dreamt about 
these things. When the little fellow went to bed, he 
thought so much about the things he had heard, and 
he pressed his chin so hard into the quilt, that he 
thought it was a long beard grown fast to it. 

The old grandfather remained sitting at his work, 
carving away at the last bit of it, which was the arms 
on the shield. At last it was finished. He looked at 
it complete, and thought of all the things he had heard 
and read, and what he had been telling the little boy in 
the evening. He nodded, and wiped his spectacles, 
and put them on again, and said, 4 ‘Well, I don’t sup- 
133 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


pose Holger the Dane will come in my time, but per- 
haps the boy in bed there may see him, and have his 
share of the fighting when the time comes. ,, And the 
old grandfather nodded again, and the more he looked 
at his Holger the Dane, the more plain it became to 
him that the figure he had made was a good one. He 
even fancied that the color came into it, and that the 
armor shone like polished steel ; the hearts in the Dan- 
ish Arms 1 got redder and redder, and the crowns on 
the springing lions became golden. 

“It’s the finest coat of Arms in the world!” said the 
old man. “The lions are strength, and the hearts are 
love and tenderness!” He looked at the uppermost 
lion, and thought about King Knuth who bound the 
mighty England to Denmark’s throne; and he looked 
at the second lion and thought of Waldemar, who 
united Denmark and subdued the Vandals. He looked 
at the third lion and thought of Margaret, who united 
Denmark, Sweden and Norway; when he looked at the 
red hearts, they shone more brightly than ever, they 
became waving flames of fire, and in his thoughts he 
followed each of them. 

The first led him into a narrow, dark prison; he 
saw a prisoner, a beautiful woman, Eleonora Ulfeld, 
daughter of Christian the Fourth. The flame placed 
itself like a rose on her bosom, and bloomed in har- 
mony with her heart; she was the noblest and best 
of Denmark’s women. “That is one heart in the 
Arms of Denmark,” said the old grandfather. 

1 The Danish Arms consist of three lions between nine hearts. 

134 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


Then his thoughts followed the next heart, which 
led him out to sea among the thunder of cannon and 
ships enveloped in smoke ; and the flame attached itself 
like an order to Hvitfield’s breast as he, to save the 
fleet, blew up his ship and himself with it. 

The third heart led him to the miserable huts of 
Greenland, where Hans Egede, the priest, labored with 
loving words and deeds: the flame was a star upon 
his breast, one heart more for the Danish Arms. 

The old grandfather’s heart went in advance of the 
waving flames, for he knew whither the flames were 
leading him. 

Frederick the Sixth stood in the peasant woman’s 
poor little room and wrote his name with chalk on 
the beams. The flame trembled on his breast, trem- 
bled in his heart; in the peasants room his heart be- 
came a heart in Denmark’s Arms. And the old grand- 
father wiped his eyes, for he had known King Fred- 
erick and lived for him, King Frederick with silvery 
hair and honest blue eyes. Then he folded his hands 
and sat, looking pensively before him. His daughter- 
in-law came and told him that it was late and he must 
rest, the supper was ready. 

4 4 What a grand figure you have made, grand- 
fa ther,” she said. “Holger the Dane and all our 
beautiful coat of arms — I think I have seen that face 
before !” 

“No, that you haven’t,” said the old man; “but I 
have seen it, and often before tried to carve it in wood, 
just as I remember it. It was when the English lay in 
135 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the roads on the 2nd day of April, and we knew we 
were true old Danes. Where I stood on the Denmark 
in Steen Bille’s squadron I had a man by my side, it 
seemed as if the balls were afraid of him; there he 
stood singing old ballads, fighting and struggling as if 
he were more than a man. I remember his face still, 
but whence he came or whither he went, I haven ’t an 
idea, nor any one else either. I have often thought it 
must have been old Holger the Dane himself, who had 
swum down from Kronborg to help us in the hour of 
danger, now that’s my idea, and there stands his 
portrait.” 

The figure threw its shadow right up the wall as 
high as the ceiling, it looked as if it were the real 
Holger the Dane himself standing behind ; the shadow 
seemed to move, but perhaps that was because the 
candle was not burning very steadily. The old man’s 
daughter-in-law kissed him, and led him to the big 
arm-chair by the table, and she and her husband, who 
was the old man’s son, and father of the little boy in 
bed, sat eating their supper and chatting. 

The old grandfather’s head was full of Danish lions 
and Danish hearts and strength and gentleness; he 
could talk of nothing else. He complained to them 
that there is another strength besides the strength of 
the sword, and he pointed to the shelf where his old 
books lay, all Holberg’s plays, which were so much 
read, because they were so amusing ; all the characters 
from olden times were quite familiar to him. 

“You see he knew how to fight too,” said the old 

136 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


man. “He spent all his life in showing up in his 
plays the follies and peculiarities of those around 
him!” 

Then the grandfather nodded to a place above the 
looking-glass, where an almanac hung with a picture 
of the Round Tower 1 on it, and he said, “There was 
Tycho Brahe, he was another who used the sword; 
not to hack at legs and arms, but to cut out a plainer 
path among the stars of heaven ! And then he whose 
father belonged to my calling; Thorw r aldsen the old 
woodcarver ’s son. We have seen him ourselves with 
the silvery locks falling on his broad shoulders, whose 
name is known to all the world — ah, he is a sculptor, 
and I am only a woodcarver. Yes, Holger the Dane 
comes in many guises, that the strength of Denmark 
may be known all over the world. Shall we drink to 
the health of Bertel Thorwaldsen?” 

The little boy in bed distinctly saw the castle of 
Kronborg and the real Holger the Dane, who lived 
down below it, with his beard grown fast to the marble 
table, and dreaming about all that happens up above. 
Holger the Dane also dreamt about the poor little 
room where the woodcarver lived ; he heard everything 
that was said and nodded in his dreams, murmuring, 
“Yes, remember me, ye Danish people! Keep me in 
mind, I shall come in time of need.” 

Outside Kronborg it was bright daylight and the 
wind bore the notes of the huntsman’s horn from the 
opposite shore. The ships sailed past with their 

1 The Observatory of Copenhagen. 

137 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


greeting, ‘ ‘ boom, boom!” with the answer from Kron- 
borg, ‘ 4 boom, boom.” Holger the Dane did not wake, 
however loud they thundered, because it was only 
“how do you do!” and “many thanks!” It will have 
to be a different kind of firing to rouse him, but he 
will wake, never fear ; there is grit in Holger the Dane. 


138 


THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE SWEEP 


H AVE you ever seen an old wooden cupboard 
quite black with age, and ornamented with 
carved foliage and curious figures! Well, just such 
a cupboard stood in a parlor, and had been left to 
the family as a legacy by the great-grandmother. It 
was covered from top to bottom with carved roses and 
tulips; the most curious scrolls were drawn upon it, 
and out of them peeped little stags’ heads, with 
antlers. In the middle of the cupboard door was the 
carved figure of a man most ridiculous to look at. He 
grinned at you, for no one could call it laughing. He 
had goat’s legs, little horns on his head, and a long 
beard ; the children in the room always called 
him ‘ * Ma jor-general-field-sergeant-commander Billy- 
goat ’s-legs.” It was certainly a very difficult name to 
pronounce, and there are very few who ever receive 
such a title, but then it seemed wonderful how he came 
to be carved at all ; yet there he was, always looking at 
the table under the looking-glass, where stood a very 
pretty little shepherdess, made of china. Her shoes 
were gilt, and her dress had a red rose for an orna- 
ment. She wore a hat, and carried a crook, that were 
both gilded, and looked very bright and pretty. 
Close by her side stood a little chimney-sweeper, as 
139 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


black as a coal, and also made of china. He was, how- 
ever, quite as clean and neat as any other china figure ; 
he only represented a black chimney-sweeper, and the 
china workers might just as well have made him a 
prince, had they felt inclined to do so. He stood hold- 
ing his ladder quite handily, and his face was as fair 
and rosy as a girl’s; indeed, that was rather a mistake, 
it should have had some black marks on it. He and 
the shepherdess had been placed close together, side 
by side ; and, being so placed, they became engaged to 
each other, for they were very well suited, being both 
made of the same sort of china, and being equally 
fragile. Close to them stood another figure, three 
times as large as they were, and also made of china. 
He was an old Chinaman, who could nod his head, and 
used to pretend that he was the grandfather of the 
shepherdess, although he could not prove it. He, how- 
ever, assumed authority over her, and therefore 
when 4 4 Major-general-field-sergeant-commander Billy- 
goat ’s-legs ” asked for the little shepherdess to be his 
wife, he nodded his head to show that he consented. 
“You will have a husband,” said the old Chinaman 
to her, “who I really believe is made of mahogany. 
He will make you the lady of Major-general-field- 
sergeant-commander Billy-goat ’s-legs. He has the 
whole cupboard full of silver plate, which he keeps 
locked up in secret drawers.” 

“I won’t go into the dark cupboard,” said the little 
shepherdess. “I have heard that he has eleven china 
wives there already.” 


140 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


4 'Then you shall be the twelfth/ ’ said the old China- 
man. "To-night as soon as you hear a rattling in the 
old cupboard, you shall be married, as true as I am a 
Chinaman”; and then he bobbed his head and fell 
asleep. 

Then the little shepherdess cried, and looked at her 
sweetheart, the china chimney-sweeper. "I must en- 
treat you,” said she, "to go out with me into the wide 
world, for we cannot stay here.” 

"I will do whatever you wish,” said the little 
chimney-sweeper; "let us go immediately: I think I 
shall be able to maintain you with my profession . 9 f 

"If we were but safely down from the table!” said 
she; "I shall not be happy till we are really out in 
the world.” 

Then he comforted her and showed her how to place 
her little foot on the carved edge and gilt-leaf orna- 
ments of the table. He brought his little ladder to 
help her, and so they contrived to reach the floor. But 
when they looked at the old cupboard, they saw it was 
all in an uproar. The carved stags pushed out their 
heads, raised their antlers, and twisted their necks. 
The major-general sprung up in the air, and cried out 
to the old Chinaman, "They are running away! they 
are running away!” The two were rather frightened 
at this, so they jumped into the drawer of the window- 
seat. Here were three or four packs of cards not quite 
complete, and a doll’s theater, which had been built up 
very neatly. A comedy was being performed in it, 
and all the queens of diamonds, clubs, and hearts, and 
141 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


spades, sat in the first row fanning themselves with 
tulips, and behind them stood all the knaves, showing 
that they had heads above and below as playing cards 
generally have. The play was about two lovers, who 
were not allowed to marry, and the shepherdess wept 
because it was so like her own story. “I cannot bear 
it,” said she, “I must get out of the drawer;” but 
when they reached the floor, and cast their eyes on the 
table, there was the old Chinaman awake and shaking 
his whole body, till all at once down he came on the 
floor, “ plump.” “The old Chinaman is coming,” 
cried the little shepherdess in a fright, and down she 
fell on one knee. 

“I have thought of something,” said the chimney- 
sweeper; “let us get into the great pot-pourri jar 
which stands in the corner ; there we can lie on rose- 
leaves and lavender, and throw salt in his eyes if he 
comes near us.” 

“No, that will never do,” said she, “because I know 
that the Chinaman and the pot-pourri jar were lovers 
once, and there always remains behind a feeling of 
good-will between those who have been so intimate as 
that. No, there is nothing left for us but to go out 
into the wide world . 9 9 

“Have you really courage enough to go out into 
the wide world, with me?” said the chimney-sweeper; 
“have you thought how large it is, and that we can 
never come back here again?” 

“Yes, I have,” she replied. 

When the chimney-sweeper saw that she was quite 

142 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


firm, he said, “My way is through the stove and up 
the chimney. Have you courage to creep with me 
through the fire-box, and the iron pipe? When we get 
to the chimney I shall know how to manage very well. 
We shall soon climb too high for any one to reach us, 
and we shall come through a hole in the top out into 
the wide world.’ ’ So he led her to the door of the 
stove. 

“It looks very dark,” said she ; still she went in with 
him through the stove and through the pipe, where it 
was as dark as pitch. 

“Now we are in the chimney,” said he; “and look, 
there is a beautiful star shining above it.” It was a 
real star shining down upon them as if it would show 
them the way. So they clambered and crept on, and 
a frightfully steep place it was; but the chimney- 
sweeper helped her and supported her, till they got 
higher and higher. He showed her the best places on 
which to set her little china foot, so at last they 
reached the top of the chimney, and sat themselves 
down, for they were very tired, as may be supposed. 
The sky, with all its stars, was over their heads, and 
below were the roofs of the town. They could see for 
a very long distance out into the wide world, and the 
poor little shepherdess leaned her head on her 
chimney-sweeper’s shoulder, and wept till she washed 
the gilt off her sash ; the world was so different to what 
she expected. “This is too much,” she said; “I can- 
not bear it, the world is too large. Oh, I wish I were 
safe back on the table again, under the looking-glass ; 
143 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


I shall never be happy till I am safe back again. Now 
I have followed you out into the wide world, you will 
take me back, if you love me.” 

Then the chimney-sweeper tried to reason with her, 
and spoke of the old Chinaman, and of the Major- 
general-field- sergeant-commander Billy-goat’s -legs ; 
but she sobbed so bitterly, and kissed her little 
chimney-sweeper till he was obliged to do all she asked, 
foolish as it was. And so, with a great deal of trou- 
ble, they climbed down the chimney, and then crept 
through the pipe and stove, which were certainly not 
very pleasant places. Then they stood in the dark 
fire-box, and listened behind the door, to hear what 
was going on in the room. As it was all quiet, they 
peeped out. Alas ! there lay the old Chinaman on the 
floor; he had fallen down from the table as he at- 
tempted to run after them, and was broken into three 
pieces; his back had separated entirely, and his head 
had rolled into a corner of the room. The major- 
general stood in his old place, and appeared lost in 
thought. 

i i This is terrible , 9 y said the little shepherdess. ‘ 4 My 
poor old grandfather is broken to pieces, and it is our 
fault. I shall never live after this;” and she wrung 
her little hands. 

“He can be riveted,” said the chimney-sweeper; “he 
can be riveted. Do not be so hasty. If they cement 
his back, and put a good rivet in it, he will be as good 
as new, and be able to say as many disagreeable things 
to us as ever.” 


144 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

“Do you think so!” said she; and then they climbed 
up to the table, and stood in their old places. 

“As we have done no good,” said the chimney- 
sweeper, “we might as well have remained here, in- 
stead of taking so much trouble.” 

“I wish grandfather was riveted,” said the shep- 
herdess. ‘ ‘ Will it cost much, I wonder ! ’ ’ 

And she had her wish. The family had the China- 
man’s back mended, and a strong rivet put through 
his neck; he looked as good as new, but he could no 
longer nod his head. 

“You have become proud since your fall broke 
you to pieces,” said Major-general-field-sergeant-com- 
mander Billy-goat ’s-legs. “You have no reason to 
give yourself such airs. Am I to have her or not!” 

The chimney-sweeper and the little shepherdess 
looked piteously at the old Chinaman, for they were 
afraid he might nod ; but he was not able : besides, it 
was so tiresome to be always telling strangers he had 
a rivet in the back of his neck. 

And so the little china people remained together, 
and were glud of the grandfather’s rivet, and con- 
tinued to love each other till they were broken to 
pieces. 


145 


THE BELL 


I N the evening, at sunset, when glimpses of golden 
clouds could just be seen among the chimney pots, 
a curious sound would be heard, first by one person, 
then by another ; it was like a church bell, but it only 
lasted a moment because of the rumble of vehicles and 
the street cries. 

‘ i There is the evening bell,” people would say; “the 
sun is setting.’ ’ 

Those who went outside the town where the houses 
were more scattered, each with its garden or little 
meadow saw the evening star, and heard the tones of 
the bell much better. It seemed as if the sound came 
from a church buried in silent, fragrant woods, and 
people looked in that direction, feeling quite solemn. 

Time passed, and still people said one to the other, 
“Can there be a church in the woods! that bell has 
such a wonderfully sweet sound; shall we go and look 
at it closer V’ The rich people drove and the poor 
ones walked, but it was a very long way; when they 
reached a group of willows wdiich grew on the out- 
skirts of the wood, they sat down and looked up 
among the long branches, thinking that they were 
really in the heart of the forest. A confectioner from 
the town came out and pitched a tent there, and then 
another confectioner, and he hung a bell up over his 
146 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


tent. This bell was tarred so as to stand the rain, and 
the clapper was wanting. When people went home 
again they said it had been so romantic, and that meant 
something beyond mere tea. Three persons protested 
that they had penetrated right through the forest to 
the other side, and that they had heard the same curi- 
ous bell all the time, but that then it sounded as if it 
came from the town. 

One of them wrote a poem about it, and said that 
it sounded like a mother’s voice to a beloved child, no 
melody could be sweeter than the chimes of this bell. 

The Emperor’s attention was also drawn to it, and 
he promised that any one who really discovered where 
the sound came from should receive the title of “the 
world’s bell-ringer,” even if there were no bell at all. 

A great many people went into the woods for the 
sake of earning an honest penny, but only one of them 
brought home any kind of explanation. No one had 
been far enough, not even he himself, but he said that 
the sound of the bell came from a very big owl in a 
hollow tree ; it was a wise owl, which perpetually beat 
its head against a tree, but whether the sound came 
from its head or from the hollow tree he could not say 
with any certainty. All the same he was appointed 
“world’s bell-ringer,” and every year he wrote a little 
treatise on the owl, but nobody was much the wiser 
for it. 

Now on a certain Confirmation day the priest had 
preached a very moving sermon, all the young people 
about to be confirmed had been much touched by it; 

147 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


it was a very important day for them. They were 
leaving childhood behind and becoming grown-up per- 
sons, the child’s soul was, as it were, to be transformed 
into that of a responsible being. It was a beautiful 
sunny day, and after the Confirmation the young peo- 
ple walked out of the town and they heard the sound 
of the unknown bell more than usually loud coming 
from the wood. On hearing it they all felt anxious to 
go further and see it; all except three. The first of 
these had to go home to try on her ball-dress ; it was 
this very dress and this very ball which were the 
reason of her having been confirmed this time; other- 
wise it would have been put off. The second was a 
poor boy, who had borrowed his tail-coat and boots 
of the landlord’s son, and he had to return them at the 
appointed time. The third said that he had never been 
anywhere without his parents, that he had always been 
a good child and he meant to continue so, although he 
was confirmed ; nobody ought to have made fun of this 
resolve, but he did not escape being laughed at. 

So these three did not go; the others trudged off. 
The sun shone and the birds sang, and the newly-con- 
firmed young people took each other by the hand and 
sang with them ; they had not yet received any position 
in life, they were all equal in the eye of the Lord on 
the day of their Confirmation. Soon two of the 
smallest ones got tired and they returned to town; 
two little girls sat down and made wreaths, so they did 
not go either. When the others reached the willows 
where the confectioners had their tents, they said, 
148 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Now, then, here we are; the bell doesn’t exist, it is 
only something people imagine ! ’ ’ 

Just then the bell was heard in the wood, with its 
deep rich notes ; and four or five of them decided after 
all to penetrate further into the wood. The under- 
wood was so thick and close that it was quite difficult 
to advance. The woodruff grew almost too high, con- 
volvulus and brambles hung in long garlands from tree 
to tree, where the nightingales sang and the sunbeams 
played. It was deliciously peaceful, but there was no 
path for the girls, their clothes would have been torn 
to shreds. There were great bowlders over-grown 
with many-colored mosses, and fresh springs trickled 
among them with a curious little gurgling sound. 

“Surely that cannot be the bell ! ’ J said one of the 
young people, as he lay down to listen. 

“This must be thoroughly looked into.” So he 
stayed behind and let the others go on. 

They came to a little hut made of bark, and branches 
overhung by a crab-apple, as if it wanted to shake all 
its bloom over the roof, which was covered with roses. 
The long sprays clustered round the gable, and on it 
hung a little bell. Could this be the one they sought? 
Yes, they were all agreed that it must be, except one ; 
he said it was far too small and delicate to be heard 
so far away as they had heard it, and that the tones 
which moved all hearts were quite different from these. 
He who spoke was a king’s son, and so the others said, 
“That kind of fellow must always be wiser than any 
one else.” 


149 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


So they let him go on alone, and as he went he was 
more and more overcome by the solitude of the wood ; 
but he still heard the little bell with which the others 
were so pleased, and now and then when the wind came 
from the direction of the confectioners he could hear 
demands for tea. 

But the deep-toned bell sounded above them all, and 
it seemed as if there was an organ playing with it, and 
the sounds came from the left, where the heart is 
placed. 

There was a rustling among the bushes, and a little 
boy stood before the king’s son; he had wooden shoes 
on, and such a small jacket that the sleeves did not 
cover his wrists. They knew each other, for he was 
the boy who had had to go back to return the coat and 
the boots to the landlord’s son. He had done this, 
changed back into his shabby clothes and wooden 
shoes, and then, drawn by the deep notes of the bell, 
had returned to the wood again. 

“Then we can go together,” said the king’s son. 

But the poor boy in the wooden shoes was too bash- 
ful. He pulled down his short sleeves, and said he 
was afraid he could not walk quickly enough, besides 
which he thought the bell ought to be looked for on 
the right, because that side looked the most beautiful. 

“Then we shan’t meet at all,” said the king’s son, 
nodding to the poor boy, who went into the thickest 
and darkest part of the wood, where the thorns tore 
his shabby clothes and scratched his face, hands, and 
feet till they bled. The king’s son got some good 
150 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


scratches too, but he at least had the sun shining upon 
his path. We are going to follow him, for he is a 
bright fellow. 

“I must and will find the bell, ,, said he, “if I have 
to go to the end of the world. ’ ’ 

Some horrid monkeys, sat up in the trees grinning 
and showing their teeth. 

“Shall we pelt him?” said they. “Shall we thrash 
him? He is a king’s son.” 

But he went confidently on further and further into 
the wood, where the most extraordinary flowers grew. 
There were white star-like lilies with blood-red sta- 
mens, pale blue tulips which glistened in the sun, and 
apple-trees on which the apples looked like great shin- 
ing soap-bubbles. You may fancy how these trees glit- 
tered in the sun. Round about were beautiful green 
meadows, where stags and hinds gamboled under the 
spreading oaks and beeches. Mosses and creepers 
grew in the fissures where the bark of the trees was 
broken away. There were also great glades with quiet 
lakes, where white swans swam about flapping their 
wings. The king’s son often stopped and listened, for 
he sometimes fancied that the bell sounded from one 
of these lakes ; but then again he felt sure that it was 
not there, but further in the wood. 

Now the sun began to go down, and the clouds were 
fiery red; a great stillness came over the wood, and 
he sank upon his knees, sang his evening psalm, and 
said, “Never shall I find what I seek, now the sun is 
going down, the night is coming on — the dark night; 
151 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


perhaps I could catch one more glimpse of the round, 
red sun before it sinks beneath the earth. I will climb 
up onto those rocks; they are as high as the trees.’ ’ 

He seized the roots and creepers, and climbed up the 
slippery stones where the water-snakes wriggled and 
the toads seemed to croak at him; but he reached the 
top before the sun disappeared. Seen from this 
height, oh! what splendor lay before him! The ocean, 
the wide, beautiful ocean, its long waves rolling towards 
the shore. The sun still stood like a great shining 
altar, out there where sea and sky met. Everything 
melted away into glowing colors; the wood sang, the 
ocean sang, and his heart sang with them. All Nature 
was like a vast holy temple, where trees and floating 
clouds were as pillars, flowers and grass the woven 
tapestry, and the heaven itself a great dome. The red 
colors vanished as the sun went down, but millions of 
stars peeped out; they were like countless diamond 
lamps, and the king’s son spread out his arms towards 
heaven, sea, and forest. At that moment, from the 
right-hand path came the poor boy with the short 
sleeves and wooden shoes. He had reached the same 
goal just as soon by his own road. They ran towards 
each other, and clasped each other’s hands in that 
great temple of Nature and Poetry, and above them 
sounded the invisible holy bell; happy spirits floated 
round it to the strains of a joyous Hallelujah. 


152 


THE SNOW QUEEN 


A TALE IN SEVEN STORIES 

First Story 

D EALS with a mirror and its fragments. Now we 
are about to begin, and you must attend ; and when 
we get to the end of the story, you will know more than 
you do now about a very wicked hobgoblin. He was 
one of the worst kind; in fact he was a real demon. 
One day he was in a high state of delight, because he 
had invented a mirror with this peculiarity, that every 
good and pretty thing reflected in it shrank away to 
almost nothing. On the other hand, every bad and 
good-for-nothing thing stood out and looked its worst. 
The most beautiful landscapes reflected in it looked 
like boiled spinach, and the best people became hideous, 
or else they were upside down and had no bodies. 
Their faces were distorted beyond recognition, and if 
they had even one freckle it appeared to spread all 
over the nose and mouth. The demon thought this im- 
mensely amusing. If a good thought passed through 
any one’s mind, it turned to a grin in the mirror, and 
this caused real delight to the demon. All the schol- 
ars of the demon’s school, for he kept a school, re- 
ported that a miracle had taken place: now for the 
first time it had become possible to see what the world 
153 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and mankind were really like. They ran about all 
over with the mirror, till at last there was not a coun- 
try or a person which had not been seen in this dis- 
torting mirror. They even wanted to fly up to 
heaven with it to mock the angels ; but the higher they 
flew, the more it grinned, so much so that they could 
hardly hold it, and at last it slipped out of their hands 
and fell to the earth, shivered into hundreds of mil- 
lions and billions of bits. Even then it did more harm 
than ever. Some of these bits were not as big as a 
grain of sand, and these flew about all over the world, 
getting into peopled eyes, and, once in, they stuck 
there, and distorted everything they looked at, or made 
them see everything that was amiss. Each tiniest 
grain of glass kept the same power as that possessed 
by the whole mirror. Some people even got a bit of 
the glass into their hearts, and that was terrible, for 
the heart became like a lump of ice. Some of the frag- 
ments were so big that they were used for window 
panes, but it was not advisable to look at one’s friends 
through these panes. Other bits were made into spec- 
tacles, and it was a bad business when people put on 
these spectacles meaning to be just. The bad demon 
laughed till he split his sides ; it tickled him to see the 
mischief he had done. But some of these fragments 
were still left floating about the world, and you shall 
hear what happened to them. 


154 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Second Story 

ABOUT A LITTLE BOY AND A LITTLE GIRL 

In a big town crowded with houses and people, where 
there is no room for gardens, people have to be con- 
tent with flowers in pots instead. In one of these 
towns lived two children who managed to have some- 
thing bigger than a flower-pot for a garden. They 
were not brother and sister, but they were just as fond 
of each other as if they had been. Their parents lived 
opposite each other in two attic rooms. The roof of 
one house just touched the roof of the next one, with 
only a rain water gutter between them. They each 
had a little dormer window, and one only had to step 
over the gutter to get from one house to the other. 
Each of the parents had a large window-box, in which 
they grew pot herbs and a little rose tree. There was 
one in each box, and they both grew splendidly. Then 
it occurred to the parents to put the boxes across the 
gutter, from house to house, and they looked just like 
two banks of flowers. The pea vines hung down over 
the edges of the boxes, and the roses threw out long 
creepers which twined round the windows. It was al- 
most like a green triumphal arch. The boxes were 
high, and the children knew they must not climb up onto 
them, but they were often allowed to have their little 
stools out under the rose trees, and there they had 
delightful games. Of course in the winter there was 
an end to these amusements. The windows were often 
155 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


covered with hoar frost; then they would warm cop- 
pers on the stove and stick them on the frozen panes, 
where they made lovely peep-holes as round as possi- 
ble. Then a bright eye would peep through these 
holes, one from each window. The little boy’s name 
was Kay, and the little girl’s Gerda. 

In the summer they could reach each other with one 
bound, but in the winter they had to go down all the 
stairs in one house and up all the stairs in the other, 
and outside there were snowdrifts. 

“Look! the white bees are swarming,” said the old 
grandmother. 

“Have they a queen bee too?” asked the little boy, 
for he knew that there was a queen among the real 
bees. 

“Yes, indeed they have,” said the grandmother. 
“She flies where the swarm is thickest. She is the 
biggest of them all, and she never remains on the 
ground. She always flies up again to the sky. Many 
a winter’s night she flies through the streets and peeps 
in at the windows, and then the ice freezes on the panes 
into wonderful patterns like flowers.” 

“Oh, yes, we have seen that,” said both children, 
and then they knew it was true. 

“Can the Snow Queen come in here?” asked the lit- 
tie girl. 

“Just let her come,” said the boy, “and I will put 
her on the stove, where she will melt.” 

But the grandmother smoothed his hair and told him 
more stories. 


156 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


In the evening when little Kay was at home and half 
undressed, he crept up onto the chair by the window, 
and peeped out of the little hole. A few snow-flakes 
were falling, and one of these, the biggest, remained 
on the edge of the window-box. It grew bigger and 
bigger, till it became the figure of a woman, dressed 
in the finest white gauze, which appeared to be made 
of millions of starry flakes. She was delicately lovely, 
but all ice, glittering, dazzling ice. Still she was alive ; 
her eyes shone like two bright stars, but there was no 
rest or peace in them. She nodded to the window and 
waved her hand. The little boy was frightened and 
jumped down off the chair, and then he fancied that a 
big bird flew past the window. 

The next day was bright and frosty, and then came 
the thaw — and after that the spring. The sun shone, 
green buds began to appear, the swallows built their 
nests, and people began to open their windows. The 
little children began to play in their garden on the roof 
again. The roses were in splendid bloom that sum- 
mer; the little girl had learnt a hymn, and there was 
something in it about roses, and that made her think 
of her own. She sang it to the little boy, and then he 
sang it with her — 

“Where roses deck the flowery vale, 

There, Infant Jesus, we thee hail!” 

The children took each other by the hands, kissed the 
roses and rejoiced in God's bright sunshine, and spoke 
to it as if the Child Jesus were there. What lovely 
summer days they were, and how delightful it was to 
157 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


sit out under the fresh rose trees, which seemed never 
tired of blooming. 

Kay and Gerda were looking at a picture-book of 
birds and animals one day — it had just struck five by 
the church clock — when Kay said, “Oh, something 
struck my heart, and I have got something in my eye ! ’ , 

The little girl put her arms round his neck; he 
blinked his eye ; there was nothing to be seen. 

“I believe it is gone,” he said, but it was not gone. 
It was one of those very grains of glass from the 
mirror, the magic mirror. You remember that horrid 
mirror, in which all good and great things reflected in 
it became small and mean, while the bad things were 
magnified, and every flaw became very apparent. 

Poor Kay! a grain of it had gone straight to his 
heart, and would soon turn it to a lump of ice. He did 
not feel it any more, but it was still there. 

“Why do you cry?” he asked; “it makes you look 
ugly; there’s nothing the matter with me. How hor- 
rid ! ” he suddenly cried ; 4 ‘ there ’s a worm in that rose, 
and that one is quite crooked ; after all, they are nasty 
roses, and so are the boxes they are growing in!” He 
kicked the box and broke off two of the roses. 

“What are you doing, Kay?” cried the little girl. 
When he saw her alarm, he broke off another rose, 
and then ran in, by his own window, and left dear 
little Gerda alone. 

When she next got out the picture-book he said it 
was only fit for babies in long clothes. When his 
grandmother told them stories he always had a but — , 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


and if he could manage it, he liked to get behind her 
chair, put on her spectacles and imitate her. He did it 
very well, and people laughed at him. He was soon 
able to imitate every one in the street ; he could make 
fun of all their peculiarities and failings. “He will 
turn out a clever fellow/ ’ said people. But it was all 
that bit of glass in his heart, that bit of glass in his 
eye, and it made him tease little Gerda who was so de- 
voted to him. He played quite different games now; 
he seemed to have grown older. One winter’s day, 
when the snow was falling fast, he brought in a big 
magnifying glass ; he held out the tail of his blue coat, 
and let the snow-flakes fall upon it. 

“Now look through the glass, Gerda!” he said; 
every snow-flake was magnified, and looked like a 
lovely flower, or a sharply pointed star. 

“Do you see how cleverly they are made!” said 
Kay. “Much more interesting than looking at real 
flowers, and there is not a single flaw in them, they are 
perfect, if only they would not melt.” 

Shortly after, he appeared in his thick gloves, with 
his sledge on his back. He shouted right into Gerda’s 
ear, “I have got leave to drive in the big square where 
the other boys play!” and away he went. 

In the big square the bolder boys used to tie their 
little sledges to the farm carts and go a long way in 
this fashion. They had no end of fun over it. Just 
in the middle of their games, a big sledge came along; 
it was painted white, and the occupant wore a white 
fur coat and cap. The sledge drove twice round the 

m 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


square, and Kay quickly tied his sledge on behind. 
Then off they went, faster and faster, into the next 
street. The driver turned round and nodded to Kay 
in the most friendly way, just as if they knew each 
other. Every time Kay wanted to loose his sledge, 
the person nodded again, and Kay stayed where he 
was, and they drove right out through the town gates. 
Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little 
boy could not see a hand before him as they rushed 
along. He undid the cords, and tried to get away 
from the big sledge, but it was no use, his little sledge 
stuck fast, and on they rushed, faster than the wind. 
He shouted aloud, but nobody heard him, and the 
sledge tore on through the snowdrifts. Every now 
and then it gave a bound, as if they were jumping over 
hedges and ditches. He was very frightened, and he 
wanted to say his prayers, but he could only remember 
the multiplication tables. 

The snow-flakes grew bigger and bigger, till at last 
they looked like big white chickens. All at once they 
sprang on one side, the big sledge stopped, and the 
person who drove got up, coat and cap smothered in 
snow. It was a tall and upright lady all shining white, 
the Snow Queen herself. 

“We have come along at a good pace,” she said; 
“but it’s cold enough to kill one; creep inside my 
bearskin coat.” 

She took him into the sledge by her, wrapped him 
in her furs, and he felt as if he were sinking into a 
Snowdrift, 


160 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“Are you still cold!” she asked, and she kissed him 
on the forehead. Ugh ! it was colder than ice, it went 
to his very heart, which was already more than half 
ice ; he felt as if he were dying, but only for a moment, 
and then it seemed to have done him good, he no 
longer felt the cold. 

“My sledge! don’t forget my sledge!” He only 
remembered it now, it was tied to one of the white 
chickens which flew along behind them. The Snow 
Queen kissed Kay again, and then he forgot all about 
little Gerda, Grandmother, and all the others at 
home. 

“Now I mustn’t kiss you any more,” she said, “or 
I should kiss you to death!” 

Kay looked at her, she was so pretty ; a cleverer, 
more beautiful face could hardly be imagined. She 
did not seem to be made of ice now, as she was out- 
side the window when she waved her hand to him. 
In his eyes she was quite perfect, and he was not a 
bit afraid of her; he told her that he could do mental 
arithmetic, as far as fractions, and that he knew the 
number of square miles and the number of inhabitants 
of the country. She always smiled at him, and he 
then thought that he surely did not know enough, and 
he looked up into the wide expanse of heaven, into 
which they rose higher and higher as she flew with 
him on a dark cloud, while the storm surged around 
them, the wind ringing in their ears like well-known 
old songs. 

They flew over woods and lakes, over oceans and 

161 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

islands, the cold wind whistled down below them, the 
wolves howled, the black crows flew screaming over 
the sparkling snow, but up above, the moon shone 
bright and clear — and Kay looked at it all the long, 
long winter nights; in the day he slept at the Snow 
Queen’s feet. 


Story Three 

THE GARDEN OF THE WOMAN LEARNED IN MAGIC 

But how was little Gerda getting on all this long 
time since Kay left her? Where could he be? No- 
body knew, nobody could say anything about him. 
All that the other boys knew was, that they had seen 
him tie his little sledge to a splendid big one which 
drove away down the street and out of the town gates. 
Nobody knew where he was, and many tears were 
shed; little Gerda cried long and bitterly. At last, 
people said he was dead ; he must have fallen into the 
river which ran close by the town. Oh, what long, 
dark, winter days those were ! 

At last the spring came and the sunshine. 

“Kay is dead and gone,” said little Gerda. 

“I don’t believe it,” said the sunshine. 

“He is dead and gone,” she said to the swallows. 

“We don’t believe it,” said the swallows, and at 
last little Gerda did not believe it either. 

“I will put on my new red shoes,” she said one 
morning; “those Kay never saw; and then I will go 
down to tho river and ask it about him!” 

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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


It was very early in the morning ; she kissed the old 
grandmother, who was still asleep, put on the red 
shoes, and went quite alone, out by the gate to the 
river. 

4 4 Is it true that you have taken my little playfellow ? 
I will give you my red shoes if you will bring him back 
to me again.” 

She thought the little ripples nodded in such a curi- 
ous way, so she took off her red shoes, her most cher- 
ished possessions, and threw both into the river. 
They fell close by the shore, and were carried straight 
back to her by the little wavelets ; it seemed as if the 
river would not accept her offering, as it had not taken 
little Kay. 

She only thought she had not thrown them far 
enough, so she climbed into a boat which lay among 
the rushes, then she went right out to the further end 
of it, and threw the shoes into the water again. But 
the boat was loose, and her movements started it off, 
and it floated away from the shore : she felt it moving 
and tried to get out, but before she reached the other 
end the boat was more than a yard from the shore, 
and was floating away quite quickly. 

Little Gerda was terribly frightened, and began to 
cry, but nobody heard her except the sparrows, and 
they could not carry her ashore, but they flew along- 
side twittering as if to cheer her, 4 4 We are here, we 
are here.” 

The boat floated rapidly away with the current; 
little Gerda sat quite still with only her stockings 
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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


on; her little red shoes floated behind, but they could 
not catch up the boat which drifted away faster and 
faster. 

The banks on both sides were very pretty with 
beautiful flowers, fine old trees, and slopes dotted with 
sheep and cattle, but not a single person. 

“Perhaps the river is taking me to little Kay,” 
thought Gerda, and that cheered her; she sat up and 
looked at the beautiful green banks for hours. 

Then they came to a big cherry garden; there was 
a little house in it, with curious blue and red windows, 
it had a thatched roof, and two wooden soldiers stood 
outside, who presented arms as she sailed past. 
Gerda called out to them ; she thought they were alive, 
but of course they did not answer ; she was quite close 
to them, for the current drove the boat close to the 
bank. Gerda called out again, louder than before, 
and then an old, old woman came out of the house ; she 
was leaning upon a big, hooked stick, and she wore 
a big sun hat, which was covered with beautiful 
painted flowers. 

“You poor little child,” said the old woman, “how- 
ever were you driven out on this big, strong river into 
the wide, wide world alone?” Then she walked right 
into the water, and caught hold of the boat with her 
hooked stick ; she drew it ashore, and lifted little Gerda 
out. 

Gerda was delighted to be on dry land again, but 
she was a little bit frightened of the strange old 
woman. 


164 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“Come, tell me who you are, and how you got here,” 
said she. 

When Gerda had told her the whole story, and asked 
her if she had seen Kay, the woman said she had not 
seen him, but that she expected him. Gerda must not 
be sad, she was to come and taste her cherries and see 
her flowers, which were more beautiful than any pic- 
ture-book ; each one had a story to tell. Then she took 
Gerda by the hand, they went into the little house, 
and the old woman locked the door. 

The windows were very high up, and they were red, 
blue, and yellow ; they threw a very curious light into 
the room. On the table were quantities of the most 
delicious cherries, of which Gerda had leave to eat 
as many as ever she liked. While she was eating, the 
old woman combed her hair with a golden comb, so 
that her hair curled, and shone like gold round the 
pretty little face, which was as sweet as a rose. 

“I have long wanted a little girl like you!” said the 
old woman. “You will see how well we shall get on 
together.” While she combed her hair Gerda had for- 
gotten all about Kay, for the old woman was learned 
in the magic art, but she was not a bad witch, she only 
cast spells over people for a little amusement, and 
she wanted to keep Gerda. She therefore went into 
the garden and waved her hooked stick over all the 
rose-bushes, and however beautifully they were flower- 
ing, all sank down into the rich black earth without 
leaving a trace behind them. The old woman was 
afraid if Gerda saw the roses she would be reminded 
165 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


of Kay, and would want to run away. Then she took 
Gerda into the flower-garden. What a delicious scent 
there was! and every imaginable flower for every 
season was in that lovely garden; no picture-book 
could be brighter or more beautiful. Gerda jumped 
for joy and played till the sun went down behind the 
tall cherry trees. Then she was put into a lovely bed 
with rose colored silken coverings stuffed with violets ; 
she slept and dreamt as lovely dreams as any queen on 
her wedding day. 

The next day she played with the flowers in the 
garden again — and many days passed in the same way. 
Gerda knew every flower, but however many there 
were, she always thought there was one missing, but 
which it was she did not know. 

One day she was sitting looking at the old woman’s 
sun hat with its painted flowers, and the very prettiest 
one of them all was a rose. The old woman had for- 
gotten her hat when she charmed the others away. 
This is the consequence of being absent-minded. 

“What!” said Gerda, “are there no roses here!” 
and she sprang in among the flower beds and sought, 
but in vain! Her hot tears fell on the very places 
where the roses used to be; when the warm drops 
moistened the earth, the rose trees shot up again just 
as full of bloom as when they sank. Gerda embraced 
the roses and kissed them, and then she thought of the 
lovely roses at home, and this brought the thought of 
little Kay. 

“Oh, how I have been delayed,” said the little girl, 

166 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“I ought to have been looking for Kay! Don’t you 
know where he is?” she asked the roses. “Do you 
think he is dead and gone?” 

“He is not dead,” said the roses. “For we have 
been down underground, you know, and all the dead 
people are there, but Kay is not among them. ’ ’ 

“Oh, thank you!” said little Gerda, and then she 
went to the other flowers and looked into their cups 
and said, ‘ 1 Do you know where Kay is ? ” 

But each flower stood in the sun and dreamt its own 
dreams. Little Gerda heard many of these, but never 
anything about Kay. 

And what said the Tiger lilies ? 

“Do you hear the drum? rub-a-dub, it has only two 
notes, rub-a-dub, always the same. The wailing of 
women and the cry of the preacher. The Hindu 
woman in her long red garment stands on the pile, 
while the flames surround her and her dead husband. 
But the woman is only thinking of the living man in 
the circle round, whose eyes burn with a fiercer fire 
than that of the flames which consume the body. Do 
the flames of the heart die in the fire ? 9 9 

“I understand nothing about that,” said little 
Gerda. 

“That is my story,” said the Tiger lily. 

“What does the convolvulus say?” 

“An old castle is perched high over a narrow moun- 
tain path, it is closely covered with ivy, almost hiding 
the old red walls, and creeping up leaf upon leaf 
right round the balcony where stands a beautiful 
167 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


maiden. She bends over the balustrade and looks 
eagerly up the road. No rose on its stem is fresher 
than she; no apple blossom wafted by the wind moves 
more lightly. Her silken robes rustle softly as she 
bends over and says, “Will he never come!” 

“Is it Kay you mean!” asked Gerda. 

“Iam only talking about my own story, my dream,” 
answered the convolvulus. 

What said the little snowdrop? 

“Between two trees a rope with a board is hang- 
ing; it is a swing. Two pretty little girls in snowy 
frocks and green ribbons fluttering on their hats are 
seated on it. Their brother, who is bigger than they 
are, stands up behind them; he has his arms round the 
ropes for supports, and holds in one hand a little bowl 
and in the other a clay pipe. He is blowing soap- 
bubbles. As the swing moves the bubbles fly upwards 
in all their changing colors, the last one still hangs 
from the pipe swayed by the wind, and the swing goes 
on. A little black dog runs up, he is almost as light 
as the bubbles, he stands up on his hind legs and wants 
to be taken into the swing, but it does not stop. The 
little dog falls with an angry bark, they jeer at it; the 
bubble bursts. A swinging plank, a fluttering foam 
picture — that is my story!” 

“I daresay what you tell me is very pretty, but 
you speak so sadly, and you never mention little Kay.” 

What says the hyacinth? 

“They were three beautiful sisters, all most delicate, 
and quite transparent. One wore a crimson robe, the 
168 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


other a blue, and the third was pure white. These 
three danced hand-in-hand, by the edge of the lake in 
the moonlight. They were human beings, not fairies 
of the wood. The fragrant air attracted them, and 
they vanished into the wood; here the fragrance was 
stronger still. Three coffins glide out of the wood 
towards the lake, and in them lie the maidens. The 
fireflies flutter lightly round them with their little 
flickering torches. Do these dancing maidens sleep, 
or are they dead! The scent of the flower says that 
they are corpses. The evening hell tolls their knell. ’ 1 

“You make me quite sad,” said little Gerda; “your 
perfume is so strong it makes me think of those dead 
maidens. Oh, is little Kay really dead! The roses 
have been down underground, and they say no.” 

“Ding, dong,” tolled the hyacinth bells; “we are 
not tolling for little Kay; we know nothing about him. 
We sing our song, the only one we know.” 

And Gerda went on to the buttercups shining among 
their dark green leaves. 

“You are a bright little sun,” said Gerda. “Tell 
me if you know where I shall find my playfellow.” 

The buttercup shone brightly and returned Gerda’s 
glance. What song could the buttercup sing! It 
would not be about Kay. 

“God’s bright sun shone into a little court on the 
first day of spring. The sunbeams stole down the 
neighboring white wall, close to which bloomed the 
first yellow flower of the season ; it shone like burnished 
gold in the sun. An old woman had brought her arm- 
169 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


chair out into the sun ; her granddaughter, a poor and 
pretty little maid-servant, had come to pay her a short 
visit, and she kissed her. There was gold, heart’s 
gold, in the kiss. Gold on the lips, gold on the ground, 
and gold above, in the early morning beams! Now 
that is my little story,” said the buttercup. 

“Oh, my poor old grandmother!” sighed Gerda. 
“She will be longing to see me, and grieving about me, 
as she did about Kay. But I shall soon go home again 
and take Kay with me. It is useless for me to ask 
the flowers about him. They only know their own 
stories, and have no information to give me.” 

Then she tucked up her little dress, so that she 
might run the faster, but the narcissus blossoms struck 
her on the legs as she jumped over them, so she 
stopped and said, “Perhaps you can tell me some- 
thing.” 

She stooped dowm close to the flower and listened. 
What did it say? 

“I can see myself, I can see myself,” said the nar- 
cissus. “Oh, how sweet is my scent. Up there in an 
attic window stands a little dancing girl half dressed ; 
first she stands on one leg, then on the other, and looks 
as if she would tread the whole world under her feet. 
She is only a delusion. She pours some water out of 
a teapot on to a bit of stuff that she is holding; it is 
her bodice. 6 Cleanliness is a good thing,’ she says. 
Her white dress hangs on a peg; it has been washed 
in the teapot, too, and dried on the roof. She puts it 
on, and wraps a saffron colored scarf round her neck, 
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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


which makes the dress look whiter. See how high she 
carries her head, and all upon one stem. I see myself, 
I see myself !” 

“I don’t care a bit about all that,” said Gerda; “it’s 
no use telling me such stuff.” 

And then she ran to the end of the garden. The 
door was fastened, but she pressed the rusty latch, 
and it gave way. The door sprang open, and little 
Gerda ran out with bare feet into the wide world. 
She looked back three times, but nobody came after 
her. At last she could run no further, and she sat 
down on a big stone. When she looked round she saw 
that the summer was over, it was quite late autumn. 
She would never have known it inside the beautiful 
garden, where the sun always shone and the flowers 
of every season were always in bloom. 

“Oh, how I have wasted my time,” said little Gerda. 
“It is autumn. I must not rest any longer,” and she 
got up to go on. 

Oh, how weary and sore were her little feet, and 
everything round looked so cold and dreary. The long 
willow leaves were quite yellow. The damp mist fell 
off the trees like rain, one leaf dropped after another 
from the trees, and only the sloe-thorn still bore its 
fruit, but the sloes were sour and set one’s teeth on 
edge. Oh, how gray and sad it looked, out in the wide 
world. 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Fourth Story 

PRINCE AND PRINCESS 

Gerda was soon obliged to rest again. A big crow 
hopped on to the snow, just in front of her. It had 
been sitting looking at her for a long time and wagging 
its head. Now it said “Caw, caw; good-day, good- 
day,” as well as it could; it meant to be kind to the 
little girl, and asked her where she was going, alone 
in the wide world. 

Gerda understood the word “alone” and knew how 
much there was in it, and she told the crow the whole 
story of her life and adventures, and asked if it had 
seen Kay. 

The crow nodded his head gravely and said, “May 
be I have, may be I have.” 

“What, do you really think you have?” cried the 
little girl, nearly smothering him with her kisses. 

“Gently, gently!” said the crow. “I believe it may 
have been Kay, but he has forgotten you by this time, 
I expect, for the Princess.” 

“Does he live with a Princess?” asked Gerda. 

“Yes, listen,” said the crow; “but it is so difficult 
to speak your language. If you understand ‘crow’s 
language,’ 1 I can tell you about it much better.” 

“No, I have never learnt it,” said Gerda; “but 
grandmother knew it, and used to speak it. If only 
I had learnt it!” 

1 Children have a kind of language, or gibberish, formed by adding let- 
ters or syllables to every word, which is called “crow’s language.” 

172 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“It doesn , t matter / 9 said the crow. “I will tell 
you as well as I can, although I may do it rather 
badly.” 

Then he told her what he had heard. 

“In this kingdom where we are now,” said he, 
“there lives a Princess who is very clever. She has 
read all the newspapers in the world, and forgotten 
them again, so clever is she. One day she was sitting 
on her throne, which is not such an amusing thing to 
do either, they say; and she began humming a tune,< 
which happened to be 

‘Why should I not be married, oh why?* 

‘Why not indeed V said she. And she made up her 
mind to marry, if she could find a husband who had 
an answer ready when a question was put to him. She 
called all the court ladies together, and when they 
heard what she wanted, they were delighted. 

“ ‘I like that now/ they said. ‘I was thinking the 
same thing myself the other day . 9 

“Every word I say is true,” said the crow, “for I 
have a tame sweetheart who goes about the Palace 
whenever she likes. She told me the story. ’ 9 

Of course his sweetheart was a crow, for “birds of 
a feather flock together , 9 9 and one crow always chooses 
another. “The newspapers all came out immediately 
with borders of hearts and the Princess’s initials. 
They gave notice that any young man who was hand- 
some enough might go up to the Palace to speak to 
the Princess. The one who spoke as if he were quite 
173 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


at home, and spoke well, would be chosen by the 
Princess as her husband. Yes, yes, you may believe 
me, it’s as true as I sit here,” said the crow. ‘ ‘The 
people came crowding in ; there was such running, and 
crushing, but no one was fortunate enough to be 
chosen, either on the first day, or on the second. 
They could all of them talk well enough in the street, 
but when they entered the castle gates, and saw the 
guard in silver uniforms, and when they went up the 
stairs through rows of lackeys in gold embroidered 
liveries, their courage forsook them. When they 
reached the brilliantly lighted reception rooms, and 
stood in front of the throne where the Princess was 
seated, they could think of nothing to say, they only 
echoed her last words, and of course that was not what 
she wanted. 

“It was just as if they had all taken some kind of 
sleeping powder, which made them lethargic ; they did 
not recover themselves until they got out into the 
street again, and then they had plenty to say. There 
was quite a long line of them, reaching from the town 
gates up to the Palace. 

“I went to see them myself,” said the crow. “They 
were hungry and thirsty, but they got nothing at the 
Palace, not even as much as a glass of tepid water. 
Some of the wise ones had taken sandwiches with them, 
but they did not share them with their neighbors ; they 
thought if the others went in to the Princess looking 
hungry, that there would be more chance for them- 
selves.” 


174 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“But Kay, little Kay!” asked Gerda; “when did he 
come? was he amongst the crowd?” 

“Give me time, give me time! we are just coming 
to him. It was on the third day that a little personage 
came marching cheerfully along, without either car- 
riage or horse. His eyes sparkled like yours, and he 
had beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very 
shabby.” 

“Oh, that was Kay!” said Gerda gleefully; “then 
I have found him!” and she clapped her hands. 

“He had a little knapsack on his back!” said the 
crow. 

“No, it must have been his sledge; he had it with 
him when he went away ! ’ ’ said Gerda. 

“It may be so,” said the crow; “I did not look very 
particularly! but I know from my sweetheart, that 
when he entered the Palace gates, and saw the life 
guards in the silver uniforms, and the lackeys on the 
stairs in their gold laced liveries, he was not the least 
bit abashed. He just nodded to them and said, ‘It 
must be very tiresome to stand upon the stairs. I am 
going inside ! ’ The rooms were blazing with lights. 
Privy councilors and excellencies without number were 
walking about barefoot carrying golden vessels ; it was 
enough to make you solemn ! His boots creaked fear- 
fully too, but he wasn’t a bit upset.” 

“Oh, I am sure that was Kay!” said Gerda; “I 
know he had a pair of new boots, I heard them creak- 
ing in grandmother’s room.” 

“Yes, indeed they did creak!” said the crow. “But 

175 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


nothing daunted, he went straight up to the Princess, 
who was sitting on a pearl, as big as a spinning-wheel. 
Poor, simple boy! all the court ladies and their at- 
tendants; the courtiers, and their gentlemen, each at- 
tended by a page, were standing round. The nearer 
the door they stood, so much the greater was their 
haughtiness; till the footman’s boy who always wore 
slippers and stood in the doorway, was almost too 
proud even to be looked at. ’ ’ 

“It must be awful!” said little Gerda, “and yet Kay 
has won the Princess ! ’ 9 

“If I had not been a crow, I should have taken her 
myself, notwithstanding that I am engaged. They 
say he spoke as well as I could have done myself, when 
I speak crow-language ; at least so my sweetheart says. 
He was a picture of good looks and gallantry, and 
then he had not come with any idea of wooing the 
Princess, but simply to hear her wisdom. He admired 
her just as much as she admired him ! 9 9 

“Indeed it was Kay then,” said Gerda; “he was 
so clever he could do mental arithmetic up to fractions. 
Oh, won’t you take me to the Palace?” 

“It’s easy enough to talk,” said the crow; “but how 
are we to manage it? I will talk to my tame sweet- 
heart about it ; she will have some advice to give us I 
daresay, but I am bound to tell you that a little girl 
like you will never be admitted!” 

“Oh, indeed I shall,” said Gerda; “when Kay hears 
that I am here, he will come out at once to fetch 
me.” 


176 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“ Wait here for me by the stile,” said the crow, then 
he wagged his head and flew off. 

The evening had darkened in before he came back. 
“Caw, caw,” he said, “she sends you greeting, and 
here is a little roll for you, she got it out of the kitchen 
where there is bread enough, and I daresay you are 
hungry! It is not possible for you to get into the 
Palace, you have bare feet, the guards in silver and 
the lackeys in gold would never allow you to pass. 
But don’t cry, we shall get you in somehow; my sweet- 
heart knows a little back staircase which leads up to 
the bedroom, and she knows where the key is kept.” 

Then they went into the garden, into the great 
avenue where the leaves were, softly one by one; and 
when the Palace lights went out, one after the other, 
the crow led little Gerda to the back door, which was 
ajar. 

Oh, how Gerda ’s heart beat with fear and longing! 
It was just as if she was about to do something wrong, 
and yet she only wanted to know if this really was little 
Kay. Oh, it must be him, she thought picturing to 
herself his clever eyes and his long hair. She could 
see his very smile when they used to sit under the 
rose trees at home. She thought he would be very 
glad to see her, and to hear what a long way she had 
come to find him, and to hear how sad they had all 
been at home when he did not come back. Oh, it was 
joy mingled with fear. 

They had now reached the stairs, where a little 
lamp was burning on a shelf. There stood the tame 

177 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


sweetheart, twisting and turning her head to look at 
Gerda, who made a curtsey, as grandmother had 
taught her. 

4 4 My betrothed has spoken so charmingly to me 
about you, my little miss !” she said; “your life, ‘Vita,' 
as it is called, is most touching! If you will take the 
lamp, I will go on in front. We shall take the straight 
road here, and we shall meet no one.” 

“It seems to me that some one is coming up behind 
us,” said Gerda, as she fancied something rushed 
past her throwing a shadow on the walls ; horses with 
flowing manes and slender legs; huntsmen, ladies and 
gentlemen, on horseback. 

“Oh, those are only the dreams!” said the crow; 
“they come to take the thoughts of the noble ladies and 
gentlemen out hunting. That’s a good thing, for you 
will be able to see them all the better in bed. But 
don’t forget, when you are taken into favor, that you 
show a grateful spirit.” 

“Now, there’s no need to talk about that,” said the 
crow from the woods. 

They now came into the first apartment ; it was hung 
with rose-colored satin embroidered with flowers. 
Here again the dreams overtook them, but they flitted 
by so quickly that Gerda could not distinguish them. 
The apartments became one more beautiful than the 
other; they were enough to bewilder anybody. They 
now reached the bedroom. The ceiling was like a 
great palm with crystal leaves, and in the middle of 
the room two beds, each like a lily hung from a golden 
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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


stem. One was white, and in it lay the Princess ; the 
other was red, and there lay he whom Gerda had come 
to seek — little Kay ! She bent aside one of the crimson 
leaves, and she saw a little brown neck. It was Kay ! 
She called his name aloud, and held the lamp close to 
him. Again the dreams rushed through the room on 
horseback — he awoke, turned his head — and it was not 
little Kay. 

It was only the Prince’s neck which was like his; 
but he was young and handsome. The Princess peeped 
out of her lily-white bed, and asked what was the 
matter. Then little Gerda cried and told them all her 
story, and what the crows had done to help her. 

“You poor little thing!” said the Prince and 
Princess. And they praised the crows, and said that 
they were not at all angry with them, but they must 
not do it again. Then they gave them a reward. 

“Would you like your liberty?” said the Princess, 
“or would you prefer permanent posts about the court 
as court crows with perquisites from the kitchen?” 

Both crows curtsied and begged for the permanent 
posts, for they thought of their old age, and said “it 
was so good to have something for the old man,” as 
they called it. 

The Prince got up and allowed Gerda to sleep in his 
bed, and he could not have done more. She folded her 
little hands and thought “how good the people and the 
animals are;” then she shut her eyes and fell fast 
asleep. All the dreams came flying back again; this 
time they looked like angels, and they were dragging 
179 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


a little sledge with Kay sitting on it, and he nodded. 
But it was only a dream; so it all vanished when she 
woke. 

Next day she was dressed in silk and velvet from 
head to foot ; they asked her to stay at the Palace and 
have a good time, but she only begged them to give 
her a little carriage and horse, and a little pair of 
boots, so that she might drive out into the wide world 
to look for Kay. 

They gave her a pair of boots and a muff. She was 
beautifully dressed, and when she was ready to start, 
there before the door stood a new chariot of pure gold. 
The Prince’s and Princess’s coat of arms were em- 
blazoned on it, and shone like a star. Coachman, foot- 
man, and outrider, for there was even an outrider, all 
wore golden crowns. The Prince and Princess them- 
selves helped her into the carriage and wished her joy. 
The wood crow, who was now married, accompanied 
her for the first three miles ; he sat beside Gerda, for 
he could not ride with his back to the horses ; the other 
crow stood at the door and flapped her wings ; she did 
not go with them, for she suffered from headache since 
she had been a kitchen pensioner — the consequence of 
eating too much. The chariot was stored with sugar 
biscuits, and there were fruit and ginger nuts under 
the seat. 4 ‘Good-by, good-by,” cried the Prince and 
Princess ; little Gerda wept and the crow wept too. At 
the end of the first few miles the crow said good-by, 
and this was the hardest parting of all. It flew up into 
a tree and flapped its big black wings as long as it 
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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


could see the chariot which shone like the brightest 
sunshine. 

Fifth Story 

THE LITTLE ROBBER GIRL 

They drove on through a dark wood, where the 
chariot lighted the way and blinded the robbers by its 
glare ; it was more than they could bear. 

‘ 4 It is gold, it is gold!” they cried, and darting for- 
ward, seized the horses, and killed the postilions, the 
coachman, and footman. They then dragged little 
Gerda out of the carriage. 

‘ ‘ She is fat, and she is pretty, she has been fattened 
on nuts ! ’ 9 said the old robber woman, who had a long 
beard, and eyebrows that hung down over her eyes. 
“She is as good as a fat lamb, and how nice she will 
taste!” She drew out her sharp knife as she said 
this; it glittered horribly. “Oh!” screamed the old 
woman at the same moment, for her little daughter 
had come up behind her, and she was biting her ear. 
She hung on her back, as wild and as savage a little 
animal as you could wish to find. “You bad, wicked 
child!” said the mother, but she was prevented from 
killing Gerda on this occasion. 

‘ ‘ She shall play with me , 9 9 said the little robber girl ; 
( ‘ she shall give me her muff, and her pretty dress, and 
she shall sleep in my bed.” Then she bit her mother 
again and made her dance. All the robbers laughed 
and said, “Look at her dancing with her cub!” 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“I want to get into the carriage/ ’ said the little 
robber girl, and she always had her own way, because 
she was so spoilt and stubborn. She and Gerda got 
into the carriage, and then they drove over stubble and 
stones further and further into the wood. The little 
robber girl was as big as Gerda, but much stronger; 
she had broad shoulders, and darker skin, her eyes 
were quite black, with almost a melancholy expres- 
sion. She put her arm round Gerda ’s waist and 
said, “They shan’t kill you as long as I don’t get 
angry with you ; you must surely be a Princess ! ’ ’ 

“No,” said little Gerda, and then she told her all her 
adventures, and how fond she was of Kay. 

The robber girl looked earnestly at her, gave a little 
nod, and said, “They shan’t kill you even if I am 
angry with you. I will do it myself. ’ ’ Then she dried 
Gerda ’s eyes, and stuck her own hands into the pretty 
muff, which was so soft and warm. 

At last the chariot stopped ; they were in the court- 
yard of a robber’s castle, the walls of which were 
cracked from top to bottom. Ravens and crows flew 
in and out of every hole, and big bull-dogs, which each 
looked ready to devour somebody, jumped about as 
high as they could, but they did not bark, for it was 
not allowed. A big fire was burning in the middle of 
the stone floor of the smoky old hall. The smoke all 
went up to the ceiling where it had to find a way out 
for itself. Soup was boiling in a big cauldron over 
the fire, and hares and rabbits were roasting on the 
spits. 


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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“You shall sleep with me and all my little pets to- 
night,’ ’ said the robber girl. 

When they had had something to eat and drink they 
went along to one corner which was spread with straw 
and rugs. There were nearly a hundred pigeons 
roosting overhead on the rafters and beams. They 
seemed to be asleep, but they fluttered about a little 
when the children came in. 

“They are all mine,” said the little robber girl, 
seizing one of the nearest. She held it by the legs 
and shook it until it flapped its wings. “Kiss it,” 
she cried, dashing it at Gerda ’s face. “Those are the 
wood pigeons,” she added, pointing to some laths fixed 
across a big hole high up on the walls; “they are a 
regular rabble; they would fly away directly if they 
were not locked in. And here is my old sweetheart 
Be,” dragging forward a reindeer by the horn; it was 
tied up, and it had a bright copper ring round its 
neck. “We have to keep him close too, or he would 
run off. Every single night I tickle his neck with 
my bright knife, he is so frightened of it.” The little 
girl produced a long knife out of a hole in the wall 
and drew it across the reindeer’s neck. The poor 
animal laughed and kicked, and the robber girl 
laughed and pulled Gerda down into the bed with 
her. 

“Do you have that knife by you while you are 
asleep!” asked Gerda, looking rather frightened. 

“I always sleep with a knife,” said the little robber 
girl. “You never know what will happen. But now 
183 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


tell me again what yon told me before about little 
Kay, and why you went out into the world.’ ’ So 
Gerda told her all about it again, and the wood pigeons 
cooed up in their cage above them, the other pigeons 
were asleep. The little robber girl put her arm round 
Gerda ’s neck and went to sleep with the knife in her 
other hand, and she was soon snoring. But Gerda 
would not close her eyes ; she did not know whether she 
was to live or to die. The robbers sat round the fire, 
eating and drinking, and the old woman was turning 
somersaults. This sight terrified the poor little girl. 
Then the wood pigeons said, “Coo, coo, we have seen 
little Kay, his sledge was drawn by a white chicken 
and he was sitting in the Snow Queen’s sledge; it was 
floating low down over the trees, while we were in 
our nests. She blew upon us young ones, and they 
all died except we two ; coo, coo. ’ ’ 

“What are you saying up there?” asked Gerda. 
“Where was the Snow Queen going? Do you know 
anything about it?” 

“She was most likely going to Lapland, because 
there is always snow and ice there! Ask the rein- 
deer who is tied up there.” 

“There is ice and snow, and it’s a splendid place,” 
said the reindeer. “You can run and jump about 
where you like on those big glittering plains. The 
Snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her 
permanent castle is up at the North Pole, on the island 
which is called Spitzbergen ! ” 

“Oh Kay, little Kay!” sighed Gerda. 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Lie still, or I shall stick the knife into you!” said 
the robber girl. 

In the morning Gerda told her all that the wood 
pigeons had said, and the little robber girl looked quite 
solemn, but she nodded her head and said, “No matter, 
no matter! Do you know where Lapland is?” she 
asked the reindeer. 

“Who should know better than I,” said the animal, 
its eyes dancing. “I was born and brought up there, 
and I used to leap about on the snow-fields.” 

“Listen,” said the robber girl. “You see that all 
our men folks are away, but mother is still here, and 
she will stay ; but later on in the morning she will take 
a drink out of the big bottle there, and after that she 
will have a nap — then I will do something for you.” 
Then she jumped out of bed, ran along to her mother 
and pulled her beard, and said, “Good-morning, my 
own dear nanny-goat!” And her mother filliped 
her nose till it was red and blue; but it was all 
affection. 

As soon as her mother had had her draught from 
the bottle and had dropped asleep, the little robber 
girl went along to the reindeer, and said, “I should 
have the greatest pleasure in the world in keeping you 
here, to tickle you with my knife, because you are such 
fun then; however, it does not matter. I will untie 
your halter and help you outside so that you may run 
away to Lapland, but you must put your best foot 
foremost, and take this little girl for me to the Snow 
Queen’s palace, where her playfellow is. I have no 
185 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


doubt you heard what she was telling me for she spoke 
loud enough, and you are generally eavesdropping !’ ’ 

The reindeer jumped up into the air for joy. The 
robber girl lifted little Gerda up, and had the fore- 
thought to tie her on, nay, even to give her a little 
cushion to sit upon. * 1 Here, after all, I will give you 
your fur boots back, for it will be very cold, but I 
will keep your muff, it is too pretty to part with. 
Still you shan’t be cold. Here are my mother’s big 
mittens for you, they will reach up to your elbows; 
here, stick your hands in! Now your hands look just 
like my nasty mother’s.” 

Gerda shed tears of joy. 

“I don’t like you to whimper!” said the little rob- 
ber girl. “You ought to be looking delighted; and 
here are two loaves and a ham for you, so that you 
shan’t starve.” 

These things were tied on to the back of the rein- 
deer; the little robber girl opened the door, called in 
all the big dogs, and then she cut the halter with her 
knife, and said to the reindeer, “Now run, but take 
care of my little girl!” 

Gerda stretched out her hands in the big mittens to 
the robber girl and said good-by; and then the rein- 
deer darted off over briars and bushes, through the 
big wood, over swamps and plains, as fast as it could 
go. The wolves howled and the ravens screamed, 
while the red lights quivered up in the sky. 

“There are my old northern lights,” said the rein- 
deer; “see how they flash!” and on it rushed faster 
186 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


than ever, day and night. The loaves were eaten, and 
the ham too, and then they were in Lapland. 

Sixth Story 

THE LAPP WOMAN AND THE FINN WOMAN 

They stopped by a little hut, a very poverty- 
stricken one ; the roof sloped right down to the ground, 
and the door was so low that the people had to creep 
on hands and knees when they wanted to go in or out. 
There was nobody at home here but an old Lapp 
woman, who was frying fish over a train-oil lamp. 
The reindeer told her all Gerda ’s story, but it told its 
own first; for it thought it much the most important. 
Gerda was so overcome by the cold that she could not 
speak at all. 

“Oh, you poor creatures !” said the Lapp woman; 
“you’ve got a long way to go yet; you will have to go 
hundreds of miles into Finmark, for the Snow Queen 
is paying a country visit there, and she burns blue 
lights every night. I will write a few words on a 
dried stock-fish, for I have no paper. I will give it 
to you to take to the Finn woman up there. She will 
be better able to direct you than I can.” 

So when Gerda was warmed, and had eaten and 
drunk something, the Lapp woman wrote a few words 
on a dried stock-fish and gave it to her, bidding her take 
good care of it. Then she tied her on to the reindeer 
again, and off they flew. Flicker, flicker, went the 
beautiful blue northern lights up in the sky all night 
187 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


long; — at last they came to Finmark, and knocked on 
the Finn woman’s chimney, for she had no door at all. 

There was such a heat inside that the Finn woman 
went about almost naked; she was little and very 
grubby. She at once loosened Gerda’s things, and 
took off the mittens and the boots, or she would have 
been too hot. Then she put a piece of ice on the rein- 
deer’s head, and after that she read what was written 
on the stock-fish. She read it three times, and then she 
knew it by heart, and put the fish into the pot for 
dinner; there was no reason why it should not be 
eaten, and she never wasted anything. 

Again the reindeer told his own story first, and then 
little Gerda’s. The Finn woman blinked with her wise 
eyes, but she said nothing. 

‘ c You are so clever,” said the reindeer, “I know you 
can bind all the winds of the world with a bit of sew- 
ing cotton. When a skipper unties one knot he gets a 
good wind, when he unties two it blows hard, and if 
he undoes the third and the fourth he brings a storm 
about his head wild enough to blow down the forest 
trees. Won’t you give the little girl a drink, so that 
she may have the strength of twelve men to overcome 
the Snow Queen?” 

“The strength of twelve men,” said the Finn woman. 
“Yes, that will be about enough.” 

She went along to a shelf and took down a big folded 
skin, which she unrolled. There were curious char- 
acters written on it, and the Finn woman read till the 
perspiration poured down her forehead. 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


But the reindeer again implored her to give Gerda 
something, and Gerda looked at her with such beseech- 
ing eyes, full of tears, that the Finn woman began 
blinking again, and drew the reindeer along into a 
corner, where she whispered to it, at the same time 
putting fresh ice on its head. 

“ Little Kay is certainly with the Snow Queen, and 
he. is delighted with everything there. He thinks it 
is the best place in the world, but that is because he 
has got a splinter of glass in his heart and a grain of 
glass in his eye. They will have to come out first, or 
he will never be human again, and the Snow Queen will 
keep him in her power !” 

“But can’t you give little Gerda something to take 
which will give her power to conquer it all!” 

“I can’t give her greater power than she already 
has. Don’t you see how great it is! Don’t you see 
how both man and beast have to serve her! How she 
has got on as well as she has on her bare feet! We 
must not tell her what power she has; it is in her 
heart, because she is such a sweet innocent child. If 
she can’t reach the Snow Queen herself, then we 
can’t help her. The Snow Queen’s gardens begin 
just two miles from here; you can carry the lit- 
tle girl as far as that. Put her down by the big 
bush standing there in the snow covered with red 
berries. Don’t stand gossiping, but hurry back to 
me!” Then the Finn woman lifted Gerda on to the 
reindeer’s back, and it rushed off as hard as it 
could. 


189 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


‘ ‘ Oh, I have not got my boots, and I have not got my 
mittens !” cried little Gerda. 

She soon felt the want of them in that cutting wind, 
but the reindeer did not dare to stop. It ran on till 
it came to the bush with the red berries. There it 
put Gerda down, and kissed her on the mouth, while 
big shining tears trickled down its face. Then it ran 
back again as fast as ever it could. There stood poor 
little Gerda, without shoes or gloves, in the middle of 
freezing icebound Finmark. 

She ran forward as quickly as she could. A whole 
regiment of snow-flakes came towards her; they did 
not fall from the sky, for it was quite clear, with the 
northern lights shining brightly. No; these snow- 
flakes ran along the ground, and the nearer they came 
the bigger they grew. Gerda remembered well how 
big and ingenious they looked under the magnifying 
glass. But the size of these was monstrous, they were 
alive, they were the Snow Queen *s advanced guard, and 
they took the most curious shapes. Some looked like 
big, horrid porcupines, some like bundles of knotted 
snakes with their heads sticking out. Others, again, 
were like fat little bears with bristling hair, but all 
were dazzling white and living snow-flakes. 

Then little Gerda said the Lord’s Prayer, and the 
cold was so great that her breath froze as it came out 
of her mouth, and she could see it like a cloud of smoke 
in front of her. It grew thicker and thicker, till it 
formed itself into bright little angels who grew bigger 
and bigger when they touched the ground. They all 
190 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


wore helmets and carried shields and spears in their 
hands. More and more of them appeared, and when 
Gerda had finished her prayer she was surrounded by 
a whole legion. They pierced the snow-flakes with 
their spears and shivered them into a hundred pieces, 
and little Gerda walked fearlessly and undauntedly 
through them. The angels touched her hands and her 
feet, and then she hardly felt how cold it was, but 
walked quickly on towards the Palace of the Snow 
Queen. 

Now we must see what Kay was about. He was not 
thinking about Gerda at all, least of all that she was 
just outside the Palace. 

Seventh Story 

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SNOW QUEEN *S PALACE 
AND AFTERWARDS 

The Palace walls were made of drifted snow, and the 
windows and doors of the biting winds. There were 
over a hundred rooms in it, shaped just as the snow 
had drifted. The biggest one stretched for many 
miles. They were all lighted by the strongest north- 
ern lights. All the rooms were immensely big and 
empty, and glittering in their iciness. There was 
never any gayety in them; not even so much as a ball 
for the little bears, when the storms might have turned 
up as the orchestra, and the polar bears might have 
walked about on their hind legs and shown off their 
grand maimers. There was never even a little game- 
191 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


playing party, for such games as i ‘touch last” or “the 
biter bit” — no, not even a little gossip over the coffee 
cups for the white fox misses. Immense, vast, and 
cold were the Snow Queen’s halls. The northern lights 
came and went with such regularity that you could 
count the seconds between their coming and going. 
In the midst of these never-ending snow-halls was a 
frozen lake. It was broken up on the surface into a 
thousand bits, but each piece was so exactly like the 
others that the whole formed a perfect work of art. 
The Snow Queen sat in the very middle of it when 
she sat at home. She then said that she was sitting 
on “The Mirror of Reason,” and that it was the best 
and only one in the world. 

Little Kay was blue with cold, nay, almost black; 
but he did not know it, for the Snow Queen had kissed 
away the icy shiverings, and his heart was little better 
than a lump of ice. He went about dragging some 
sharp, flat pieces of ice, which he placed in all sorts 
of patterns, trying to make something out of them; 
just as when we at home have little tablets of wood, 
with which we make patterns, and call them a i i Chinese 
puzzle.” 

Kay’s patterns were most ingenious, because they 
were the “Ice puzzles of Reason.” In his eyes they 
were first-rate and of the greatest importance: this 
was because of the grain of glass still in his eye. He 
made many patterns forming words, but he never 
could find the right way to place them for one par- 
ticular word, a word he was most anxious to make. It 

193 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


was ‘ ‘ Eternity. ’ ’ The Snow Queen had said to him 
that if he could find out this word he should be his 
own master, and she would give him the whole world 
and a new pair of skates. But he could not discover 
it. 

“Now I am going to fly away to the warm coun- 
tries,’ ’ said the Snow Queen. “I want to go and peep 
into the black cauldrons!” She meant the volcanoes 
Etna and Vesuvius by this. “I must whiten them 
a little; it does them good, and the lemons and the 
grapes too ! ’ ’ And away she flew. 

Kay sat quite alone in all those many miles of empty 
ice halls. He looked at his bits of ice, and thought and 
thought, till something gave way within him. He sat 
so stiff and immovable that one might have thought 
he was frozen to death. 

Then it was that little Gerda walked into the Palace, 
through the great gates in a biting wind. She said her 
evening prayer, and the wind dropped as if lulled to 
sleep, and she walked on into the big empty hall. She 
saw Kay, and knew him at once; she flung her arms 
round his neck, held him fast, and cried, “Kay, little 
Kay, have I found you at last?” 

But he sat still, rigid and cold. 

Then little Gerda shed hot tears ; they fell upon his 
breast and penetrated to his heart. Here they thawed 
the lump of ice, and melted the little bit of the mirror 
which was in it. He looked at her, and she sang, — 

“Where roses deck the flowery vale, 

There, Infant Jesus, thee we hail!” 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Then Kay burst into tears; he cried so much that 
the grain of glass was washed out of his eye. He 
knew her, and shouted with joy, “Gerda, dear little 
Gerda! where have you been for such a long time! 
And where have I been?” He looked round and said, 
“How cold it is here; how empty and vast!” He 
kept tight hold of Gerda, who laughed and cried for 
joy. Their happiness was so heavenly that even the 
bits of ice danced for joy around them ; and when they 
settled down, there they lay! just in the very position 
the Snow Queen had told Kay he must find out, if he 
was to become his own master and have the whole 
world and a new pair of skates. 

Gerda kissed his cheeks and they grew rosy, she 
kissed his eyes and they shone like hers, she kissed his 
hands and his feet, and he became well and strong. 
The Snow Queen might come home whenever she liked, 
his order of release was written there in shining 
letters of ice. 

They took hold of each other’s hands and wandered 
out of the big Palace. They talked about grand- 
mother, and about the roses upon the roof. Wherever 
they went the winds lay still and the sun broke through 
the clouds. When they reached the bush with the red 
berries they found the reindeer waiting for them, and 
he had brought another young reindeer with him, 
whose udders were full. The children drank her warm 
milk and kissed her on the mouth. Then they carried 
Kay and Gerda, first to the Finn woman, in whose 
heated hut they warmed themselves and received di- 
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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


rections about the homeward journey. Then they 
went to the Lapp woman; she had made new clothes 
for them and prepared her sledge. Both the rein- 
deer ran by their side, to the boundaries of the 
country ; here the first green buds appeared, and they 
said “Good-by” to the reindeer and the Lapp woman. 
They heard the first little birds twittering and saw 
the buds in the forest. Out of it came riding a young 
girl on a beautiful horse, which Gerda knew, for it 
had drawn the golden chariot. She had a scarlet cap 
on her head and pistols in her belt; it was the little 
robber girl, who was tired of being at home. She 
was riding northwards to see how she liked it before 
she tried some other part of the world. She knew 
them again, and Gerda recognized her with delight. 

“You are a nice fellow to go tramping off!” she 
said to little Kay. “I should like to know if you de- 
serve to have somebody running to the end of the 
world for your sake!” 

But Gerda patted her cheek, and asked about the 
Prince and Princess. 

“They are traveling in foreign countries,” said the 
robber girl. 

“But the crow?” asked Gerda. 

“Oh, the crow is dead!” she answered. “The tame 
sweetheart is a widow, and goes about with a bit of 
black wool tied round her leg. She pities herself bit- 
terly, but it’s all nonsense! But tell me how you got 
on yourself, and where you found him.” 

Gerda and Kay both told her all about it. 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


i ‘ Snip, snap, snurre, it’s all right at last then!” 
she said, and she took hold of their hands and prom- 
ised that if she ever passed through their town she 
would pay them a visit. Then she rode off into the 
wide world. But Kay and Gerda walked on, hand in 
hand, and wherever they went, they found the most 
delightful spring and blooming flowers. Soon they 
recognized the big town where they lived, with its tall 
towers, in which the bells still rang their merry peals. 
They went straight on to grandmother’s door, up the 
stairs, and into her room. Everything was just as 
they had left it, and the old clock ticked in the corner, 
and the hands pointed to the time. As they went 
through the door into the room they perceived that 
they were grown up. The roses clustered round the 
open window, and there stood their two little chairs. 
Kay and Gerda sat down upon them, still holding each 
other by the hand. All the cold empty grandeur of the 
Snow Queen’s palace had passed from their memory 
like a bad dream. Grandmother sat in God’s warm 
sunshine reading from her Bible. 

“Without ye become as little children ye cannot en- 
ter into the Kingdom of Heaven. ’ ’ 

Kay and Gerda looked into each other’s eyes, and 
then all at once the meaning of the old hymn came to 
them. 

"Where roses deck the flowery vale, 

There, Infant Jesus, thee we hail!” 

And there they both sat, grown up and yet children, 
children at heart; and it was summer — warm, beauti- 
ful summer. 


196 


THE ANGEL 


4 4 W^HENEVEK a good child dies, an angel of God 
* * comes down from heaven, takes the dead child 
in his arms, spreads out his great white wings, and 
flies with him over all the places which the child has 
loved during his life. Then he gathers a large hand- 
ful of flowers, which he carries up to the Almighty, 
that they may bloom more brightly in heaven than they 
do on earth. And the Almighty presses the flowers 
to His heart, but He kisses the flower that pleases Him 
best, and it receives a voice, and is able to join the 
song of the chorus of bliss. ,, 

These words were spoken by an angel of God, as he 
carried a dead child up to heaven, and the child listened 
as if in a dream. Then they passed over well-known 
spots where the little one had often played, and 
through beautiful gardens full of lovely flowers. 

“ Which of these shall we take with us to heaven to 
be transplanted there V 7 asked the angel. 

Close by grew a slender, beautiful rose-bush, but 
some wicked, hand had broken the stem, and the half- 
opened rose-buds hung faded and withered on the trail- 
ing branches. 

“Poor rose-bush !” said the child; “let us take it 
with us to heaven, that it may bloom above in God’s 
garden. ’ 7 


197 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The angel took np the rose-bush; then he kissed the 
child, and the little one half-opened his eyes. The an- 
gel gathered also some beautiful flowers, as well as a 
few humble buttercups and hearth-ease. 

“Now we have flowers enough,’ ’ said the child; but 
the angel only nodded, he did not fly upward to heaven. 

It was night, and quite still in the great town. Here 
they remained, and the angel hovered over a small, 
narrow street, in which lay a large heap of straw, 
ashes, and sweepings from the houses of people who 
had removed. There lay fragments of plates, pieces 
of plaster, rags, old hats, and other rubbish not pleas- 
ant to see. Amidst all this confusion, the angel 
pointed to the pieces of a broken flower-pot, and to a 
lump of earth which had fallen out of it. The earth 
had been kept from falling to pieces by the roots of a 
withered field-flower, which had been thrown amongst 
the rubbish. 

“We will take this with us,” said the angel; “I will 
tell you why as we fly along.” 

And as they flew the angel related the history. 

“Down in that narrow lane, in a low cellar, lived a 
poor sick boy ; he had been afflicted from his childhood, 
and even in his best days he could just manage to walk 
up and down the room on crutches once or twice, but 
no more. During some days in summer the sunbeams 
would lie on the floor of the cellar for about half an 
hour. In this spot the poor sick boy would sit warm- 
ing himself in the sunshine, and watching the red blood 
through his delicate fingers as he held them before his 
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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


face. Then he would say he had been out, yet he knew 
nothing of the green forest in its spring verdure, till 
a neighbor’s son brought him a green bough from a 
beech-tree. This he would place over his head, and 
fancy that he was in the beech-wood while the sun 
shone, and the birds caroled gayly. One spring day 
the neighbor ’s boy brought him some field-flowers, and 
among them was one to which the root still adhered. 
This he carefully planted in a flower-pot, and placed in 
a window-seat near his bed. And the flower had been 
planted by a fortunate hand, for it grew, put forth 
fresh shoots, and blossomed every year. It became a 
splendid flower-garden to the sick boy, and his little 
treasure upon earth. He watered it, and cherished it, 
and took care it should have the benefit of every sun- 
beam that found its way into the cellar, from the ear- 
liest morning ray to the evening sunset. The flower 
entwined itself even in his dreams — for him it bloomed, 
for him spread its perfume. And it gladdened his 
eyes, and to the flower he turned, even in death, when 
the Lord called him. He has been one year with God. 
During that time the flower has stood in the window, 
withered and forgotten, till at length cast out among 
the sweepings into the street, on the day of the lodgers 9 
removal. And this poor flower, withered and faded as 
it is, we have added to our nosegay, because it gave 
more real joy than the most beautiful flower in the 
garden of a queen.” 

“But how do you know all this!” asked the child 
whom the angel was carrying to heaven. 

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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“I know it,” said the angel, “ because I myself was 
the poor sick boy who walked upon crutches, and I 
know my own flower well. ’ 9 
Then the child opened his eyes and looked into the 
glorious happy face of the angel, and at the same mo- 
ment they found themselves in that heavenly home 
where all is happiness and joy. And God pressed the 
dead child to His heart, and wings were given him so 
that he could fly with the angel, hand in hand. Then 
the Almighty pressed all the flowers to His heart ; but 
He kissed the withered field-flower, and it received a 
voice. Then it joined in the song of the angels, who 
surrounded the throne, some near, and others in a dis- 
tant circle, but all equally happy. They all joined in 
the chorus of praise, both great and small — the good, 
happy child, and the poor field-flower, that once lay 
withered and cast away on a heap of rubbish in a nar- 
row, dark street. 


200 


THE CONCEITED APPLE-BBANCH 

TT was the month of May. The wind still blew cold; 
* but from bush and tree, field and flower, came the 
welcome sound, “ Spring is come. ,, Wild-flowers in 
profusion covered the hedges. Under the little apple- 
tree Spring seemed busy, and told his tale from one 
of the branches which hung fresh and blooming, and 
covered with delicate pink blossoms that were just 
ready to open. The branch well knew how beautiful 
it was ; this knowledge exists as much in the leaf as in 
the blood; I was therefore not surprised when a noble- 
man’s carriage, in which sat the young countess, 
stopped in the road just by. She said that an apple- 
branch was a most lovely object, and an emblem of 
spring in its most charming aspect. Then the branch 
was broken off for her, and she held it in her delicate 
hand, and sheltered it with her silk parasol. Then 
they drove to the castle, in which were lofty halls and 
splendid drawing-rooms. Pure white curtains flut- 
tered before the open windows, and beautiful flowers 
stood in shining, transparent vases; and in one of 
them, which looked as if it had been cut out of newly- 
fallen snow, the apple-branch was placed, among some 
fresh, light twigs of beech. It was a charming sight. 
Then the branch became proud, which was very much 
like human nature. 


201 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


People of every description entered the room, and, 
according to their position in society, so dared they to 
express their admiration. Some few said nothing, 
others expressed too much, and the apple-branch very 
soon got to understand that there was as much differ- 
ence in the characters of human beings as in those of 
plants and flowers. Some are all for pomp and pa- 
rade, others have a great deal to do to maintain their 
own importance, while the rest might be spared with- 
out much loss to society. So thought the apple-branch, 
as he stood before the open window, from which he 
could see out over gardens and fields, where there were 
flowers and plants enough for him to think and reflect 
upon ; some rich and beautiful, some poor and humble 
indeed. 

“Poor, despised herbs,’ ’ said the apple-branch; 
“there is really a difference between them and such as 
I am. How unhappy they must be, if they can feel as 
those in my position do ! There is a difference indeed, 
and so there ought to be, or we should all be equals.” 

And the apple-branch looked with a sort of pity upon 
them, especially on a certain little flower that is found 
in fields and in ditches. No one bound these flowers 
together in a nosegay; they were too common; they 
were even known to grow between the paving-stones, 
shooting up everywhere, like bad weeds; and they 
bore the very ugly name of “dog-flowers,” or dande- 
lions.” 

“Poor, despised plants,” said the apple-bough, “it 
is not your fault that you are so ugly, and that you 
202 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


have such an ugly name ; but it is with plants as with 
men — there must be a difference.” 

i ‘ A difference ! ’ ’ cried the sunbeam, as he kissed the 
blooming apple-branch, and then kissed the yellow 
dandelion out in the fields. All were brothers, and the 
sunbeam kissed them — the poor flowers as well as the 
rich. 

The apple-bough had never thought of the boundless 
love of God, which extends over all the works of crea- 
tion, over everything which lives, and moves, and has 
its being in Him ; he had never thought of the good and 
beautiful which are so often hidden, but can never 
remain forgotten by Him — not only among the lower 
creation, but also among men. The sunbeam, the ray 
of light, knew better. 

“You do not see very far, nor very clearly,’ ’ he said 
to the apple-branch. “Which is the despised plant 
you so specially pity?” 

“The dandelion,” he replied. “No one ever places 
it in a nosegay ; it is often trodden under foot, there 
are so many of them ; and when they run to seed, they 
have flowers like wool, which fly away in little pieces 
over the roads, and cling to the dresses of the people. 
They are only weeds, but of course there must be 
weeds. Oh, I am really very thankful that I was not 
made like one of these flowers.” 

There came presently across the fields a whole group 
of children, the youngest of whom was so small that it 
had to be carried by the others; and when he was 
seated on the grass, among the yellow flowers, he 
203 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


laughed aloud with joy, kicked out his little legs, rolled 
about, plucked the yellow flowers, and kissed them in 
childlike innocence. The elder children broke off the 
flowers with long stems, bent the stalks one round the 
other, to form links, and made first a chain for the 
neck, then one to go across the shoulders, and hang 
down to the waist, and at last a wreath to wear round 
the head, so that they looked quite splendid in their 
garlands of green stems and golden flowers. But the 
eldest among them gathered carefully the faded flow- 
ers, on the stem of which the seed was grouped to- 
gether, in the form of a white feathery coronal. These 
loose, airy wool-flowers are very beautiful, and look 
like fine snowy feathers or down. The children held 
them to their mouths, and tried to blow away the whole 
coronal with one puff of the breath. They had been 
told by their grandmothers that whoever did so would 
be sure to have new clothes before the end of the year. 
The despised flower was by this raised to the position 
of a prophet, or foreteller of events. 

“Do you see,” said the sunbeam, “do you see the 
beauty of these flowers? Do you see their power of 
giving pleasure?” 

“Yes, to children,” said the apple-bough. 

By-and-by an old woman came into the field, and, 
with a blunt knife without a handle, began to dig round 
the roots of some of the dandelion-plants, and pull 
them up. With some of these she intended to make tea 
for herself ; but the rest she was going to sell to the 
chemist, and obtain some money. 

204 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“But beauty is of higher value than all this,” said 
the apple-tree branch; “only the chosen ones can be 
admitted into the realms of the beautiful. There is a 
difference between plants, just as there is a difference 
between men.” 

Then the sunbeam spoke of the boundless love of 
God as seen in creation, and over all that lives, and of 
the equal distribution of His gifts, both in time and in 
eternity. 

“That is your opinion,’’ said the apple-bough. 

Then some people came into the room, and, among 
them, the young countess — the lady who had placed the 
apple-bough in the transparent vase, so pleasantly be- 
neath the rays of sunlight. She carried in her hand 
something that seemed like a flower. The object was 
hidden by two or three great leaves, which covered it 
like a shield, so that no draught or gust of wind could 
injure it, and it was carried more carefully than the 
apple-branch had ever been. Very cautiously the 
large leaves were removed, and there appeared the 
feathery seed-crown of the despised yellow dandelion. 
This was what the lady had so carefully plucked, and 
carried home so safely covered, so that not one of the 
delicate feathery arrows of which its mist-like shape 
was so lightly formed, should flutter away. She now 
drew it forth quite uninjured, and wondered at its 
beautiful form, and airy lightness, and singular con- 
struction, so soon to be blown away by the wind. 

“See,” she exclaimed, “how wonderfully God has, 
made this little flower. I will paint it with the apple- 
205 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


branch together. Every one admires the beauty of the 
apple-bough, but this humble flower has been endowed 
by Heaven with another kind of loveliness; and al- 
though they differ in appearance, both are the children 
of the realms of beauty.” 

Then the sunbeam kissed the lowly flower, and he 
kissed the blooming apple-branch, upon whose leaves 
appeared a rosy blush. 


♦ 


206 


THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER 


rpHE storks have a great many stories, which they 
* tell their little ones, all about the bogs and the 
marshes. They suit them to their ages and capacity. 
The youngest ones are quite satisfied with “Kribble 
krabble,” or some such nonsense; but the older ones 
want something with more meaning in it, ar at any 
rate something about the family. We all know one 
of the two oldest and longest tales which have been 
kept up among the storks; the one about Moses, who 
was placed by his mother on the waters of the Nile, 
and found there by the king’s daughter. How she 
brought him up, and how he became a great man whose 
burial place nobody to this day knows. This is all 
common knowledge. 

The other story is not known yet, because the storks 
have kept it among themselves. It has been handed 
on from one mother stork to another for more than 
a thousand years, and each succeeding mother has told 
it better and better, till we now tell it best of all. 

The first pair of storks who told it, and who actually 
lived it, had their summer quarters on the roof of the 
Viking’s timbered house up by “Vidmosen” (the Wild 
Bog) in Wendsyssel. It is in the county of Hiorring, 
high up towards the Skaw, in the north of Jutland, if 
207 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


we are to describe it according to the authorities. 
There is still a great bog there, which we may read 
about in the county chronicles. This district used to 
be under the sea at one time, but the ground has risen, 
and it stretches for miles. It is surrounded on every 
side by marshy meadows, quagmires, and peat bogs, on 
which grow cloud berries and stunted bushes. There 
is nearly always a damp mist hanging over it, and 
seventy years ago it was still overrun with wolves. 
It may well be called the Wild Bog, and one can easily 
imagine how desolate and dreary it was among all 
these swamps and pools a thousand years ago. In 
detail everything is much the same now as it was then. 
The reeds grow to the same height, and have the same 
kind of long purple-brown leaves with feathery tips as 
now. The birch still grows there with its white bark 
and its delicate, loosely-hanging leaves. With regard 
to living creatures, the flies still wear their gauzy dra- 
peries of the same cut; and the storks now, as then, 
still dress in black and white, with long red stockings. 
The people certainly then had a very different cut for 
their clothes than at the present day; but if any of 
them, serf or huntsman, or anybody at all stepped on 
the quagmires, the same fate befell him a thousand 
years ago as would overtake him now if he ventured 
on them — in he would go, and down he would sink to 
the Marsh King, as they call him. He rules down be- 
low over the whole kingdom of bogs and swamps. He 
might also be called King of the Quagmires, but we 
prefer to call him the Marsh King, as the storks did. 

208 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


We know very little about his rule, but that is perhaps 
just as well. 

Near the bogs, close to the arm of the Cattegat, 
called the Limfiord, lay the timbered hall of the Vi- 
kings with its stone cellar, its tower, and its three 
stories. The storks had built their nest on the top of 
the roof, and the mother stork was sitting on the eggs 
which she was quite sure would soon be successfully 
hatched. 

One evening father stork stayed out rather late, and 
when he came back he looked somewhat ruffled. 

“I have something terrible to tell you!” he said to 
the mother stork. 

“Don’t tell it to me then,” she answered; “remem- 
ber that I am sitting, it might upset me and that would 
be bad for the eggs!” 

“You will have to know it,” said he; “she has come 
here, the daughter of our host in Egypt. She has ven- 
tured to take the journey and now she has disap- 
peared.” 

“She who is related to the fairies! Tell me all 
about it. You know I can’t bear to be kept waiting 
now I am sitting.” 

“Look here, mother! She must have believed what 
the doctor said, as you told me ; she believed that the 
marsh flowers up here would do something for her 
father, and she flew over here in feather plumage with 
the other two Princesses, who have to come north 
every year to take the baths to make themselves young. 
She came, and she has vanished.” 

209 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“You go into too many particulars,’ ’ said the 
mother stork; “the eggs might get a chill, and I can’t 
stand being kept in suspense.” 

“I have been on the outlook,” said father stork, 
“and to-night when I was among the reeds where the 
quagmire will hardly hear me, I saw three swans 
flying along, and there was something about their 
flight which said to me, ‘watch them; they are not 
real swans! They are only in swan’s plumage.’ 
You know, mother, as well as I, that one feels things 
intuitively, whether or not they are what they seem 
to be.” 

“Yes, indeed!” she said, “but tell me about the 
Princess; I am quite tired of hearing about swan’s 
plumage. ’ ’ 

“You know that in the middle of the bog there is a 
kind of lake,” said father stork. “You can see a bit 
of it if you raise your head. Well, there was a big 
alder stump between the bushes and the quagmire, and 
on this the three swans settled, flapping their wings 
and looking about them. Then one of them threw off 
the swan’s plumage, and I at once recognized in her 
our Princess from Egypt. There she sat with no cover- 
ing but her long black hair; I heard her beg the two 
others to take good care of the swan’s plumage while 
she dived under the water to pick up the marsh flower 
which she thought she could see. They nodded and 
raised their heads, and lifted up the loose plumage. 
What are they going to do with it? thought I, and she 
no doubt asked the same thing; and the answer came, 
210 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


she had ocular demonstration of it: they flew up into 
the air with the feather garment! ‘Just you duck 
down/ they cried. ‘Never again will you fly about in 
the guise of a swan ; never more will you see the land 
of Egypt; you may sit in your swamp. , Then they 
tore the feather garment into a hundred bits, scatter- 
ing the feathers all over the place, like a snowstorm; 
then away flew those two good-for-nothing Prin- 
cesses.” 

“What a terrible thing,” said mother stork; “but I 
must have the end of it. ’ ’ 

“The Princess moaned and wept! Her tears tric- 
kled down upon the alder stump, and then it began to 
move, for it was the Marsh King himself, who lives in 
the bog. I saw the stump turn round, and saw that it 
was no longer a stump; it stretched out long miry 
branches like arms. The poor child was terrified, and 
she sprang away on to the shaking quagmire where it 
would not even bear my weight, far less hers. She 
sank at once and the alder stump after her; it was 
dragging her down. Great black bubbles rose in the 
slime, and then there was nothing more to be seen. 
Now she is buried in the Wild Bog, and never will she 
take back to Egypt the flowers she came for. You 
could not have endured the sight, mother ! ’ , 

“You shouldn’t even tell me anything of the sort 
just now; it might have a bad effect upon the eggs. 
The Princess must look after herself! She will get 
help somehow ; if it had been you or I now, or one of 
our sort, all would have been over with us!” 

211 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“I mean to keep a watch though, every day,” said 
the stork, and he kept his word. 

But a long time passed, and then one day he saw that 
a green stem shot up from the fathomless depths, and 
when it reached the surface of the water, a leaf ap- 
peared at the top which grew broader and broader. 
Next a bud appeared close by it, and one morning at 
dawn, just as the stork was passing, the bud opened 
out in the warm rays of the sun, and in the middle of 
it lay a lovely baby, a little girl, looking just as fresh 
as if she had just come out of a bath. She was so 
exactly like the Princess from Egypt that at first the 
stork thought it was she who had grown small; but 
when he put two and two together, he came to the con- 
clusion that it was her child and the Marsh King’s. 
This explained why she appeared in a water-lily. 
“She can’t stay there very long,” thought the stork; 
“and there are too many of us in my nest as it is, but 
an idea has just come into my head! The Viking’s 
wife has no child, and she has often wished for one. 
As I am always said to bring the babies, this time I will 
do so in earnest. I will fly away to the Viking’s wife 
with the baby, and that will indeed be a joy for her.” 

So the stork took up the little girl and flew away 
with her to the timbered house where he picked a hole 
in the bladder skin which covered the window, and laid 
the baby in the arms of the Viking’s wife. This done, 
he flew home and told the mother stork all about it; 
and the young ones heard what he said, they were old 
enough to understand it. 

212 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“So you see that the Princess is not dead; she must 
have sent the baby up here, and I have found a home 
for her.” 

“I said so from the very first,” said mother stork; 
“now just give a little attention to your own children, 
it is almost time to start on our own journey. I feel 
a tingling in my wings every now and then! The 
cuckoo and the nightingale are already gone, and I 
hear from the quails that we shall soon have a good 
wind. Our young people will do themselves credit at 
the maneuvers if I know them aright ! ’ ’ 

How delighted the Viking’s wife was when she woke 
in the morning and found the little baby on her bosom. 
She kissed and caressed it ; but it screamed and kicked 
terribly, and seemed anything but happy. At last it 
cried itself to sleep, and as it lay there a prettier little 
thing could not have been seen. The Viking’s wife 
was delighted; body and soul were filled with joy. 
She was sure that now her husband and all his men 
would soon come back as unexpectedly as the baby had 
come. So she and her household busied themselves in 
putting the house in order against their return. The 
long colored tapestries which she and her handmaids 
had woven with pictures of their gods — Odin, Thor, 
and Freya as they were called — were hung up. The 
serfs had to scour and polish the old shields which 
hung round the walls; cushions were laid on the 
benches, and logs upon the great hearth in the middle 
of the hall, so that the fire might be lighted at once. 
The Viking’s wife helped with all this work herself, 
213 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


so that when evening came she was very tired and slept 
soundly. When she woke towards morning she was 
much alarmed at finding that the little baby had dis- 
appeared. She sprang up and lighted a pine chip and 
looked about. There was no baby, but at the foot of 
the bed sat a hideous toad. She was horrified at the 
sight, and seized a heavy stick to kill it, but it looked 
at her with such curious sad eyes, that she had not 
the heart to strike it. Once more she looked round, 
and the toad gave a faint pitiful croak which made her 
start. She jumped out of bed and threw open the 
window shutter ; the sun was just rising and its beams 
fell upon the bed and the great toad. All at once the 
monster’s wide mouth seemed to contract, and to be- 
come small and rosy, the limbs stretched and again 
took their lovely shapes, and it was her own dear little 
baby which lay there, and not a hideous frog. 

“ Whatever is this?” she cried; “I have had a bad 
dream. This is my own darling elfin child.” She 
kissed it, and pressed it to her heart, but it struggled 
and bit like a wild kitten. 

Neither that day nor the next did the Viking lord 
come home, although he was on his way, but the winds 
were against him; they were blowing southwards 
for the storks. “It is an ill wind that blows nobody 
good.” 

In the course of a few days and nights it became 
clear to the Viking’s wife how matters stood with her 
little baby ; some magic power had a terrible hold over 
her. In the day-time it was as beautiful as any fairy, 
214 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


but it had a bad, wicked temper ; at night, on the other 
hand, she became a hideous toad, quiet and pathetic, 
with sad mournful eyes. There were two natures in 
her, both in soul and body, continually shifting. The 
reason of it was that the little girl brought by the 
frog, by day had her mother’s form and her father’s 
evil nature; but at night her kinship with him ap- 
peared in her outward form, and her mother’s sweet 
nature and gentle spirit beamed out of the misshapen 
monster. Who could release her from the power of 
this witchcraft? It caused the Viking’s wife much 
grief and trouble, and yet her heart yearned over the 
unfortunate being. She knew that she would never 
dare tell her husband the true state of affairs, because 
he would without doubt, according to custom, have 
the poor child exposed on the highway for any one who 
chose to look after it. The good woman had not the 
heart to do this, and so she determined that he should 
only see the child by broad daylight. 

One morning there was a sound of stork’s wings 
swishing over the roof ; during the night more than a 
hundred pairs of storks had made it their resting- 
place, after the great maneuvers, and they were now 
trying their wings before starting on their long south- 
ward flight. 

‘ ‘ Every man ready I” they cried; “all the wives and 
children too. ’ ’ 

“How light we feel,” cried the young storks; “our 
legs tingle as if we were full of live frogs! How 
splendid it is to be traveling to foreign lands.” 

215 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


“Keep in line! ,, said the father and mother, “and 
don’t let your beaks clatter so fast, it isn’t good for 
the chest.” Then away they flew. 

At the very same moment a horn sounded over the 
heath. The Viking had landed with all his men ; they 
were bringing home no end of rich booty from the 
Gallic coast, where the people cried in terror as did 
the people of Britain, — 

“Deliver us from the wild Northmen!” 

What life and noise came to the Viking’s home by 
the Wild Bog now. The mead cask was brought into 
the hall, the great fire lighted, and horses slaughtered 
for the feast, which was to be an uproarious one. The 
priest sprinkled the thralls with the warm blood of the 
horses as a consecration. The fire crackled and roared, 
driving the smoke up under the roof, and the soot 
dripped down from the beams ; but they were used to 
all that. Guests were invited, and they received hand- 
some presents. All feuds and double dealing were for- 
gotten. They drank deeply, and threw the knuckle- 
bones in each other’s faces when they had gnawed 
them, but that was a mark of good feeling. The Skald 
— the minstrel of the times, but he was also a warrior, 
for he went with them on their expeditions, and he 
knew what he was singing about — gave them one of 
his ballads recounting all their warlike deeds and their 
prowess. After every verse came the same refrain: 
“Fortunes may be lost, friends may die, one dies one- 
self, but a glorious name never dies!” Then they 
banged on the shields, and hammered with knives or 
216 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the knuckle-bones on the table before them, till the 
hall rang. 

The Viking’s wife sat on the cross-bench in the 
banqueting hall. She was dressed in silk with gold 
bracelets and large amber beads. The Skald brought 
her name into the song too; he spoke of the golden 
treasure she had brought to her wealthy husband, and 
his delight at the beautiful child which at present he 
had only seen under its charming daylight guise. He 
rather admired her passionate nature, and said she 
would grow into a doughty shield maiden or Valkyrie, 
able to hold her own in battle. She would be of the 
kind who would not blink if a practiced hand cut off 
her eyebrows in jest with a sharp sword. The barrel 
of mead came to an end, and a new one was rolled up 
in its place; this one, too, was soon drained to the 
dregs, but they were a hard-headed people who could 
stand a great deal. They had a proverb then, “The 
beast knows when it is time to go home from grass, 
but the fool never knows when he has had enough.” 
They knew it very well, but people often know one 
thing and yet do another. They also knew that “the 
dearest friend becomes a bore if he sits too long in 
one’s house!” but yet they sat on. Meat and drink 
are such good things ! They were a jovial company ! 
At night the thralls slept among the warm ashes, and 
they dipped their fingers in the sooty grease and licked 
them. Those were rare times indeed. 

The Viking went out once more that year on a raid, 
although the autumn winds were beginning; he sailed 
217 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


with his men to the coast of Britain , 4 4 it was just over 
the water,” he said. His wife remained at home with 
the little girl, and certain it was that the foster-mother 
soon grew fonder of the poor toad with the pathetic 
eyes, and plaintive sighs, than she was of the little 
beauty who tore and bit. 

The raw, wet autumn fog, “gnaw-worm,” which 
gnaws the leaves off the trees, lay over wood and 
heath; and “Bird loose-feather,” as they call the 
snow, followed closely upon each other. Winter was 
on its way. The sparrows took the storks ’ nest under 
their protection, and discussed the absent owners in 
their own fashion. The stork couple and their young 
— where were they now ? 

The storks were in the land of Egypt under such 
a sun as we have on a warm summer’s day! They 
were surrounded by flowering tamarinds and acacias. 
Mahomet’s crescent glittered from every cupola on 
the mosques, and many a pair of storks stood on the 
slender towers resting after their long journey. 
Whole flocks of them had their nests side by side on 
the mighty pillars, or the ruined arches of the deserted 
temples. The date palm lifted high its screen of 
branches as if to form a sunshade. The greyish white 
pyramids stood like shadowy sketches against the clear 
atmosphere of the desert where the ostrich knew it 
would find space for its stride. The lion crouched gaz- 
ing with its great wise eyes at the marble Sphinx half 
buried in the sand. The Nile waters had receded, and 
the land teemed with frogs ; to the storks this was the 
218 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


most splendid sight in all the land. The eyes of the 
young ones were quite dazzled with the sight. 

4 4 See what it is to be here, and we always have the 
same in our warm country,” said the mother stork, and 
the stomachs of the little ones tingled. 

4 ‘Is there anything more to see?” they asked; 44 shall 
we go any further inland?” 

4 4 There is not much more to see,” said the mother 
stork. 4 4 On the fertile side there are only secluded 
woods where the trees are interlaced by creeping 
plants. The elephant, with its strong clumsy legs, is 
the only creature which can force a way through. 
The snakes there are too big for us, and the lizards 
are too nimble. If you go out into the desert you will 
get sand in your eyes if the weather is good, and if 
bad you may be buried in a sandstorm. No, we are 
best here ; there are plenty of frogs and grasshoppers. 
Here I stay and you too ! ’ 9 And so she stayed. 

The old ones stayed in their nests on the slender 
minarets resting themselves, but at the same time 
busily smoothing their feathers and rubbing their 
beaks upon their red stockings. Or they would lift up 
their long necks and gravely bow their heads, their 
brown eyes beaming wisely. The young stork misses 
walked about gravely among the juicy reeds, casting 
glances at the young bachelor storks, or making ac- 
quaintance with them; they would swallow a frog at 
every third step, or walk about with a small snake 
dangling from their beak, it had such a good effect 
they thought, and then it tasted so good. The young 
219 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


he-storks engaged in many a petty quarrel, in which 
they flapped their wings furiously and stabbed each 
other with their beaks till the blood came. Then they 
took mates and built nests for themselves ; it was what 
they lived for. New quarrels soon arose, for in these 
warm countries people are terribly passionate. All 
the same it was very pleasant to the old ones, nothing 
could be wrong that their young ones did. There was 
sunshine every day, and plenty to eat ; nothing to think 
of but pleasure ! 

But in the great palace of the Egyptian host, as 
they called him, matters were not so pleasant. The 
rich and mighty lord lay stretched upon his couch, as 
stiff in every limb as if he had been a mummy. The 
great painted hall was as gorgeous as if he had been 
lying within a tulip. Relatives and friends stood 
around him — he was not dead — yet he could hardly be 
called living. The healing marsh flower from the 
northern lands, which was to be found and plucked by 
the one who loved him best, would never be brought. 
His young and lovely daughter, who in the plumage of 
a swan had flown over sea and land to the far north, 
would never return. The two other swan Princesses 
had come back, and this is the tale they told : — 

“We were all flying high up in the air when a hunts- 
man saw us and shot his arrow ; it pierced our sister 
to the heart and she slowly sank. As she sank she 
sang her farewell song and fell into the midst of a 
forest pool. There by the shore under a drooping 
birch we buried her; but we had our revenge; we 
220 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


bound fire under the wings of a swallow which had its 
nest under the eaves of his cottage. The roof took 
fire and the cottage blazed up, and he was burnt in it. 
The flames shone on the pool where she lay, earth of 
the earth, under the birch. Never more will she come 
back to the land of Egypt / 9 

Then they both wept, and the father stork who heard 
it clattered with his beak and said, “Pack of lies; I 
should like to drive my beak right into their breasts ! ’ 9 

“Where it would break off, and a nice sight you 
would be then,” said the mother stork. “Think of 
yourself first and then of your family, everything else 
comes second to that ! ’ 9 

“I will perch upon the open cupola to-morrow when 
all the wise and learned folk assemble to talk about the 
sick man, perhaps they will get a little nearer to the 
truth!” 

The sages met together and talked long and 
learnedly, but the stork could neither make head nor 
tail of it. Nothing came of it, however, either for the 
sick man or for his daughter who was buried in the 
Wild Bog; but we may just as well hear what they 
said, and we may, perhaps, understand the story better, 
or at least as well as the stork. 

“Love is the food of life! The highest love nour- 
ishes the highest life ! Only through love can this life 
be won back!” This had been said and well said, de- 
clared the sages. 

“It is a beautiful idea!” said the father stork at 


once. 


221 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“I don’t rightly understand it,” said the mother 
stork; “ however that is not my fault, but the fault of 
the idea. It really does not matter to me, though, I 
have other things to think about ! ’ ’ 

The sages had talked a great deal about love, the 
difference between the love of lovers and that of parent 
and child, light and vegetation, and how the sunbeams 
kissed the mire and forthwith young shoots sprang into 
being. The whole discourse was so learned that the 
father stork could not take it in, far less repeat it. 
He became quite pensive and stood on one leg for a 
whole day with his eyes half shut. Learning was a 
heavy burden to him. 

Yet one thing the stork had thoroughly compre- 
hended; he had heard from high and low alike what 
a misfortune it was to thousands of people and to the 
whole country, that this man should be lying sick with- 
out hope of recovery. It would indeed be a blessed 
day which should see his health restored. “But where 
blossoms the flower of healing for him?” they had 
asked of one another, and they had also consulted all 
their learned writings, the twinkling stars, the winds, 
and the waves. The only answer that the sages had 
been able to give was, “Love is the food of life!” but 
how to apply the saying they knew not. At last all 
were agreed that succor must come through the 
Princess who loved her father with her whole heart 
and soul. And they at last decided what she was to 
do. It was more than a year and a day since they 
had sent her at night, when there was a new moon, 
222 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


out into the desert of the Sphinx. Here she had to 
push away the sand from the door at the base of it, 
and walk through the long passage which led right into 
the middle of the pyramid, where one of the mightiest 
of their ancient kings lay swathed in his mummy’s 
bands in the midst of his wealth and glory. Here she 
was to bend her head to the corpse, and it would be 
revealed to her where she would find healing and sal- 
vation for her father. 

All this she had done, and the exact spot had been 
shown her in dreams where in the depths of the 
morass she would find the lotus flower that would touch 
her bosom beneath the water. And this she was to 
bring home. So she flew away in her swan’s plumage 
to the Wild Bog in the far north. 

Now all this the father and mother stork had known 
from the beginning, and we understand the matter 
better than we did. We know that the Marsh King 
dragged her down to himself, and that to those at 
home she was dead and gone. The wisest of them said 
like the mother stork, “She will look out for herself!” 
so they awaited her return, not knowing in fact what 
else to do. 

“I think I will snatch away the swans’ plumage from 
the two deceitful Princesses,” said the father stork. 
“Then they can not go to the Wild Bog to do any more 
mischief. I will keep the plumages up there till we 
find a use for them.” 

“Up where will you keep them?” asked the mother 
stork. 

223 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

“In our nest at the Wild Bog,” said he. “The 
young ones and I can carry them between us, and if 
they are too cumbersome, there are places enough on 
the way where we can hide them till our next flight. 
One plumage would be enough for her, but two are bet- 
ter; it is a good plan to have plenty of wraps in a 
northern country!” 

“You will get no thanks for it,” said the mother 
stork; “but you are the master. I have nothing to say 
except when I am sitting.” 

In the meantime the little child in the Viking’s hall 
by the Wild Bog, whither the storks flew in the spring, 
had had a name given her; it was Helga, but such a 
name was far too gentle for such a wild spirit as dwelt 
within her. Month by month it showed itself more, 
and year by year whilst the storks took the same 
journey, in autumn towards the Nile, and in spring 
towards the Wild Bog. The little child grew to be a 
big girl, and before one knew how, she Was the loveliest 
maiden possible of sixteen. The husk was lovely, but 
the kernel was hard and rough ; wilder than most, even 
in those hard, wild times. 

Her greatest pleasure was to dabble her white hands 
in the blood of the horses slaughtered for sacrifice ; in 
her wild freaks she would bite the heads off the black 
cocks which the priest was about to slay, and she said 
in full earnest to her foster-father, “If thy foe were to 
come and throw a rope round the beams of thy house 
and pull it about thine ears, I would not wake thee if 
I could. I should not hear him for the tingling of the 
224 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


blood in the ear thou once boxed years ago ! I do not 
forget !” 

But the Viking did not believe what she said. He, 
like everybody else, was infatuated by her beauty, nor 
did he know how body and soul changed places in his 
little Helga in the dark hours of the night. She rode 
a horse bare-backed as if she were a part of it, nor did 
she jump off while her steed bit and fought with the 
other wild horses. She would often throw herself 
from the cliff into the sea in all her clothes, and swim 
out to meet the Viking when his boat neared the shore ; 
and she cut off the longest strand of her beautiful long 
hair to string her bow. “Self made is well made,” 
said she. 

The Viking’s wife, though strong-willed and strong- 
minded after the fashion of the times, became towards 
her daughter like any other weak, anxious mother, be- 
cause she knew that a spell rested over the terrible 
child. Often when her mother stepped out on to the 
balcony, Helga, from pure love of teasing, it seemed, 
would sit down upon the edge of the well, throw up 
her hands and feet, and go backwards plump into the 
dark narrow hole. Here with her frog’s nature she 
would rise again and clamber out like a cat dripping 
with water, carrying a perfect stream into the banquet- 
ing hall, washing aside the green twigs strewn on the 
floor. 

One bond, however, always held little Helga in check, 
and that was twilight ; when it drew near, she became 
quiet and pensive, allowing herself to be called and 
225 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


directed. An inner perception, as it were, drew her 
towards her mother, and when the sun sank and the 
transformation took place, she sat sad and quiet, 
shriveled up into the form of a toad. Hqp body was 
now much bigger than those creatures ever are, hut 
for that reason all the more unsightly. She looked like 
a wretched dwarf with the head of a frog and webbed 
fingers. There was something so piteous in her eyes ; 
and voice she had none, only a hollow croak like the 
smothered sobs of a dreaming child. Then the Vi- 
king’s wife would take it on her knee, and looking into 
its eyes would forget the misshapen form, and would 
often say, “I could almost wish that thou wouldst al- 
ways remain my dumb frog child. Thou art more 
terrible to look at when thou art clothed in beauty.’ ’ 
Then she would write Runes against sickness and 
sorcery, and throw them over the miserable girl, but 
they did no good at all. 

“One would never think that she had been small 
enough to lie in a water-lily!” said the father stork. 
“Now she is grown up, and the very image of her 
Egyptian mother, whom we never saw again ! She did 
not manage to take such good care of herself as you 
and the sages said she would. I have been flying 
across the marsh year in, year out, and never have I 
seen a trace of her. Yes, I may as well tell you that 
all these years, when I have come on in advance of 
you to look after the nest and set it to rights, I have 
spent many a night flying about like an owl or a bat 
scanning the open water, but all to no purpose. Nor 
226 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


have we had any use for the two swan plumages which 
the young ones and I dragged up here with so much 
difficulty; it took us three journeys to get them here. 
They have lain for years in the bottom of the nest, 
and if ever a disaster happens, such as a fire in the 
timbered house, they will be entirely lost.” 

“And our good nest would be lost too,” said the 
mother stork ; ‘ ‘ but you think less of that than you do 
of your feather dresses, and your marsh Princess. 
You had better go down to her one day and stay in 
the mire for good. You are a bad father to your own 
chicks, and I have always said so since the first time 
I hatched a brood. If only we or the young ones don ’t 
get an arrow through our wings from that mad Viking 
girl. She doesn’t know what she is about. We are 
rather more at home here than she is, and she ought 
to remember that. We never forget our obligations. 
Every year we pay our toll of a feather, an egg, and 
a young one, as it is only right we should. Do you 
think that while she is about I care to go down there 
as I used to do, and as I do in Egypt when I am ‘hail 
fellow well met’ with everybody, and where I peep into 
their pots and kettles if I like? No, indeed; I sit up 
here vexing myself about her, the vixen, and you too. 
You should have left her in the water-lily, and there 
would have been an end of her. ’ 9 

“You are much more estimable than your words,” 
said the father stork. “I know you better than you 
know yourself, my dear.” Then he gave a hop and 
flapped his wings thrice, proudly stretched out his neck 
227 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and soared away without moving his outspread wings. 
When he had gone some distance he made some more 
powerful strokes, his head and neck bending proudly 
forward, while his plumage gleamed in the sunshine. 
What strength and speed there were in his flight. 

“He is the handsomest of them all yet,” said the 
mother stork; “but I don’t tell him that.” 

The Viking came home early that autumn with his 
booty and prisoners ; among these was a young Chris- 
tian priest, one of those men who persecuted the 
heathen gods of the north. There had often been dis- 
cussions of late, both in the hall and in the women’s 
bower, about the new faith which was spreading in all 
the countries to the south. Through the holy Ans- 
garius it had spread as far as Hedeby on the Schlei. 
Even little Helga had heard of the belief in the “White 
Christ,” who from love to man had given Himself for 
their salvation. As far as Helga was concerned it 
had all gone in at one ear and out at the other, as one 
says. The very meaning of the word “love” only 
seemed to dawn upon her when she was shriveled up 
into the form of a frog in her secret chamber, but the 
Viking’s wife had listened to the story, and had felt 
herself strangely moved by these tales about the Son of 
the only true God. 

The men on their return from their raids told them 
all about the temples built of costly polished stone, 
which were raised to Him whose message was Love. 
Once a couple of heavy golden vessels of cunning work- 
manship were brought home about which hung a pecul- 
228 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


iar spicy odor. They were censers used by the Chris- 
tian priests to swing before the altars on which blood 
never flowed, but where the bread and wine were 
changed to the Body and Blood of Him who gave Him- 
self for the yet unborn generations. 

The young priest was imprisoned in the deep stone 
cellars of the timber house, and his feet and hands 
were bound with strips of bark. He was as “ beautiful 
as Baldur,” said the Viking’s wife, and she felt pity 
for him, but young Helga proposed that he should be 
hamstrung and be tied to the tails of wild oxen. 

i i Then would I let the dogs loose on him. Hie and 
away over marshes and pools ; that would be a merry 
sight, and merrier still would it be to follow in his 
course.’ ’ 

However, this was not the death the Viking wished 
him to die, but rather that as a denier and a persecutor 
of the great gods he should be offered up in the morn- 
ing upon the bloodstone in the groves. For the first 
time a man was to be sacrificed here. Young Helga 
begged that she might sprinkle the effigies of the gods 
and the people with his blood. She polished her sharp 
knife, and when one of the great ferocious dogs, of 
which there were so many about the place, sprang 
towards her, she dug her knife into its side, to “try it,” 
she said ; but the Viking’s wife looked sadly at the wild, 
badly-disposed girl. When the night came and the 
girl’s beauty of body and soul changed places, she 
spoke tender words of grief from her sorrowful heart. 
The ugly toad with its ungainly body stood fixing its 
229 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


sad brown eyes upon her, listening and seeming to 
understand with the mind of a human being. 

‘ i Never once to my husband has a word of my dou- 
ble grief through you passed my lips,” said the 
Viking’s wife. “My heart is full of grief for you, 
great is a mother’s love ! But love never entered your 
heart, it is like a lump of cold clay. How ever did 
you get into my house ? ’ ’ 

Then the ungainly creature trembled, as if the words 
touched some invisible chord between body and soul, 
and great tears came into its eyes. 

“A bitter time will come to you,” said the Viking’s 
wife, “and it will be a terrible one to me too! Better 
would it have been, if, as a child, you had been ex- 
posed on the highway, and lulled by the cold to the 
sleep of death!” And the Viking’s wife shed bitter 
tears, and went away in anger and sorrow, passing 
under the curtain of skins which hung from the beams 
and divided the hall. 

The shriveled up toad crouched in the corner, and 
a dead silence reigned. At intervals a half stifled 
sigh rose within her ; it was as if in anguish something 
came to life in her heart. She took a step forward 
and listened, then she stepped forward again and 
grasped the heavy bar of the door with her clumsy 
hands. Softly she drew it back, and silently lifted the 
latch, then she took up the lamp which stood in the 
ante-room. It seemed as if a strong power gave her 
strength. She drew out the iron bolt from the barred 
cellar door, and slipped in to the prisoner. He was 
230 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


asleep, she touched him with her cold clammy hand, 
and when he awoke and saw tht hideous creature, he 
shuddered as if he beheld an evil apparition. She 
drew out her knife and cut his bonds asunder, and then 
beckoned him to follow her. He named the Holy 
Name and made the sign of the cross, and as the form 
remained unchanged, he repeated the words of the 
Psalmist: u Blessed is the man who hath pity on the 
poor and needy; the Lord will deliver him in time of 
trouble l” Then he asked “Who art thou? whose out- 
ward appearance is that of an animal, whilst thou 
willingly performest deeds of mercy V 9 

The toad beckoned him, and led him behind the shel- 
tering curtains down a long passage to the stable, 
pointed to a horse, on to which he sprang and she after 
him. She sat in front of him, clutching the mane of 
the animal. The prisoner understood her, and they 
rode at a quick pace along a path he never would have 
found to the heath. He forgot her hideous form, 
knowing that the mercy of the Lord worked through 
the spirits of darkness. He prayed and sang holy 
songs which made her tremble. Was it the power of 
prayer and his singing working upon her, or was it 
the chill air of the advancing dawn? What were her 
feelings ? She raised herself, and wanted to stop and 
jump off the horse, but the Christian priest held her 
tightly, with all his strength, and sang aloud a psalm 
as if this could lift the spell which held her. 

The horse bounded on more wildly than before, the 
sky grew red, and the first sunbeams pierced the clouds. 
231 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


As the stream of light touched her, the transformation 
took place. She was once more a lovely maiden, but 
her demoniac spirit was the same. The priest held a 
blooming maiden in his arms, and he was terrified at 
the sight. He stopped the horse and sprang down, 
thinking he had met with a new device of the evil one. 
But young Helga sprang to the ground too. The short 
child’s frock only reached to her knee. She tore the 
sharp knife from her belt and rushed upon the startled 
man. “Let me get at thee!” she cried, “let me reach 
thee, and my knife shall pierce thee ! Thou art ashen 
pale, beardless slave ! ’ 9 

She closed upon him and they wrestled together, hut 
an invisible power seemed to give strength to the 
Christian; he held her tight, and the old oak under 
which they stood seemed to help him, for the loosened 
roots above the ground tripped her up. Close by rose 
a bubbling spring, and he sprinkled her with water 
and commanded the unclean spirit to leave her, making 
the sign of the cross over her according to Christian 
usage. But the baptismal water has no power if the 
spring of faith flows not from within. Yet even here 
something more than man’s strength opposed itself, 
through him, against the evil which struggled within 
her. Her arms fell, and she looked with astonishment 
and paling cheeks at this man who seemed to be a 
mighty magician skilled in secret arts. These were 
dark Runes he was repeating and cabalistic signs he 
was tracing in the air. She would not have blanched 
had he flourished a shining sword, or a sharp ax before 
232 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


her face, but she trembled now as he traced the sign 
of the cross upon her forehead and bosom, and sat be- 
fore him with drooping head like a wild bird tamed. 

He spoke gently to her about the deed of love she had 
performed for him this night, when she came in the 
hideous shape of a toad, cut his bands asunder, and led 
him out to light and life. She herself was bound, he 
said, and with stronger bonds than his ; but she also, 
through him, should reach to light and life everlasting. 
He would take her to Hedeby, to the holy Ansgarius, 
and there, in that Christian city, the spell would be 
removed ; but she must no longer sit in front of him on 
the horse, even if she went of her own free will; he 
dared not carry her thus. 

4 ‘Thou must sit behind me, not before; thy magic 
beauty has a power given by the Evil One which I 
dread; yet shall I have the victory through Christ !” 

He knelt down and prayed humbly and earnestly. It 
seemed as if the quiet wood became a holy church con- 
secrated by his worship. The birds began to sing as 
if they too were also of this new congregation, and the 
fragrance of the wild flowers was as the ambrosial per- 
fume of incense, while the young priest recited the 
words of Holy Writ: “The Day-spring from on high 
hath visited us. To give light to them that sit in 
darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide their 
feet into the way of peace / 1 

He spoke of the yearning of all nature for redemp- 
tion, and while he spoke the horse which had carried 
them stood quietly by, only rustling among the bram- 
233 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


ble-bushes, making the ripe, juicy fruit fall into little 
Helga’s hands, as if inviting her to refresh herself. 
Patiently she allowed herself to be lifted on to the 
horse’s back, and sat there like one in a trance, who 
neither watches nor wanders. The Christian man 
bound together two branches in the shape of a cross, 
which he held aloft in his hand as he rode through the 
wood. The brushwood grew thicker and thicker, till 
at last it became a trackless wilderness. Bushes of 
the wild sloe blocked the way, and they had to ride 
round them. The bubbling springs turned to stand- 
ing pools, and these they also had to ride round; still 
they found strength and refreshment in the pure 
breezes of the forest, and no less a power in the tender 
words of faith and love spoken by the young priest in 
his fervent desire to lead this poor straying one into 
the way of light and love. 

It is said that raindrops can wear a hollow in the 
hardest stone, and the waves of the sea can smooth 
and round the jagged rocks; so did the dew of mercy 
falling upon little Helga soften all that was hard and 
smooth all that was rough in her. Not that these 
effects were yet to be seen ; she did not even know that 
they had taken place, any more than the buried seed 
lying in the earth knows that the refreshing showers 
and the warm sunbeams will cause it to flourish and 
bloom. 

As the mother’s song unconsciously falls upon the 
child’s heart, it stammers the words after her without 
understanding them; but later they crystallize into 
234 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


thoughts, and in time become clear. In this way the 
“ Word” also worked here in the heart of Helga. 

They rode out of the wood, over a heath, and again 
through trackless forests. Towards evening they met 
a band of robbers. 

“Where hast thou stolen this beautiful child ?” they 
cried, stopping the horse and pulling down the two 
riders, for they were a numerous party. 

The priest had no weapon but the knife which he 
had taken from little Helga, and with this he struck out 
right and left. One of the robbers raised his ax to 
strike him, but the Christian succeeded in springing on 
one side, or he would certainly have been hit ; but the 
blade flew into the horse’s neck, so that the blood 
gushed forth, and it fell to the ground dead. Then 
little Helga, as if roused from a long, deep trance, 
rushed forward and threw herself on to the gasping 
horse. The priest placed himself in front of her as a 
shield and defense ; but one of the robbers swung his 
iron club with such force at his head that the blood and 
the brains were scattered about, and he fell dead upon 
the ground. 

The robbers seized little Helga by her white arms, 
but the sun was just going down, and as the last rays 
vanished she was changed into the form of a frog. A 
greenish-white mouth stretched half over her face ; her 
arms became thin and slimy ; while broad hands, with 
webbed fingers, spread themselves out like fans. The 
robbers in terror let her go, and she stood among them 
a hideous monster ; and, according to frog nature, she 
235 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


bounded away with great leaps as high as herself, and 
disappeared in the thicket. Then the robbers per- 
ceived that this must be Loki’s evil spirit, or some 
witchcraft, and they hurried away affrighted. 

The full moon had risen, and was shining in all its 
splendor when poor little Helga, in the form of a frog, 
crept out of the thicket. She stopped by the body of 
the Christian priest and the dead horse ; she looked at 
them with eyes which seemed to weep ; a sob came from 
the toad like that of a child bursting into tears. She 
threw herself down, first upon one, and then on the 
other; and brought water in her hand, which, from 
being large and webbed, formed a cup. This she 
sprinkled them with ; but they were dead, and dead they 
must remain! This she understood. Soon wild ani- 
mals would come and devour them ; but no, that should 
never be ; so she dug into the ground as deep as she 
could; she wished to dig a grave for them. She had 
nothing but the branch of a tree and her two hands, 
and she tore the web between her fingers till the blood 
ran from them. She soon saw that the task would be 
beyond her, so she fetched fresh water and washed the 
face of the dead man, and strewed fresh green leaves 
over it. She also brought large boughs to cover him, 
and scattered dried leaves between the branches. Then 
she brought the heaviest stones she could carry, and 
laid them over the dead body, filling up the spaces with 
moss. Now she thought the mound was strong and 
secure enough, but the difficult task had employed the 
whole night ; the sun was just rising, and there stood 
236 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


little Helga in all her beauty with bleeding hands and 
maidenly tears for the first time on her blushing cheeks. 

It was in this transformation as if two natures were 
struggling in her; she trembled and glanced round as 
if she were just awakening from a troubled dream. 
She leaned for support against a slender beech, and at 
last climbed to the topmost branches like a cat, and 
seated herself firmly upon them. She sat there for the 
whole livelong day, like a frightened squirrel in the 
solitude of the wood where all is still and dead, as 
they say ! 

Dead — well, there flew a couple of butterflies whirling 
round and round each other, and close by were some 
ant-hills, each with its hundreds of busy little creatures 
swarming to and fro. In the air danced countless 
midges, and swarm upon swarm of flies, lady-birds, 
dragon-flies with golden wings, and other little winged 
creatures. The earthworm crept forth from the moist 
ground, and the moles — but excepting these all was still 
and dead around; when people say this they don’t 
quite understand what they mean. None noticed little 
Helga but a flock of jackdaws which flew chattering 
round the tree where she sat. They hopped along the 
branch towards her, boldly inquisitive, but a glance 
from her eye was enough to drive them away. They 
could not make her out though, any more than she 
could understand herself. 

When the evening drew near and the sun began to 
sink, the approaching transformation roused her to 
fresh exertion. She slipped down gently from the tree, 
237 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and when the last sunbeam was extinguished she sat 
there once more, the shriveled up frog with her torn, 
webbed hands; but her eyes now shone with a new 
beauty which they had hardly possessed in all the pride 
of her loveliness. These were the gentlest and ten- 
derest maiden’s eyes which now shone out of the face 
of the frog. They bore witness to the existence of 
deep feeling and a human heart; and the beauteous 
eyes overflowed with tears, weeping precious drops 
that lightened the heart. 

The cross made of branches, the last work of him 
who now was dead and cold, still lay by the grave. 
Little Helga took it up, the thought came uncon- 
sciously, and she placed it between the stones which 
covered ma»n and horse. At the sad recollection her 
tears burst forth again, and in this mood she traced the 
same sign in the earth round the grave — and as she 
formed with both hands the sign of the cross, the 
webbed skin fell away from her fingers like a torn 
glove. She washed her hands at the spring, and gazed 
in astonishment at their delicate whiteness. Again 
she made the holy sign in the air, between herself and 
the dead man; her lips trembled, her tongue moved, 
and the name which she in her ride through the forest 
had so often heard, rose to her lips, and she uttered 
the words “ Jesus Christ.” 

The frog’s skin fell away from her, she was the beau- 
tiful young maiden, but her head bent wearily and her 
limbs required rest. She slept. But her sleep was 
short, she was awakened at midnight, before her stood 
238 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the dead horse prancing and fnll of life, which shone 
forth from his eyes and his wounded neck. Close by 
his side appeared the murdered Christian priest, 
“more beautiful than Baldur,” the Viking’s wife 
might indeed have said, and yet he was surrounded by 
flames of fire. 

There was such earnestness in his large, mild eyes, 
and such righteous judgment in his penetrating glance 
which pierced into the remotest corner of her heart. 
Little Helga trembled, and every memory within her 
was awakened as if it had been the day of Judgment. 
Every kindness which had ever been shown her, every 
loving word which had been said to her, came vividly 
before her. She now understood that it was love which 
had sustained her in those days of trial, through which 
all creatures formed of dust and clay, soul and spirit, 
must wrestle and struggle. She acknowledged that she 
had but followed whither she was called, had done 
nothing for herself ; all had been given her. She bent 
now in lowly humility, and full of shame, before Him 
who could read every impulse of her heart ; and in that 
moment she felt the purifying flame of the Holy Spirit 
thrill through her soul. 

“Thou daughter of earth!” said the Christian 
martyr, “out of the earth art thou come, from the 
earth shalt thou rise again ! The sunlight within thee 
shall consciously return to its origin ; not the beams of 
the actual sun, but those from God! No soul will be 
lost, things temporal are full of weariness, but eter- 
nity is life giving. I come from the land of the dead; 
239 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


thou also must one day journey through the deep val- 
leys to reach the radiant mountain summits where 
dwell grace and all perfections. I cannot lead thee to 
Hedeby for Christian baptism; first must thou break 
the watery shield that covers the deep morass, and 
bring forth from its depths the living author of thy 
being and thy life ; thou must first carry out thy voca- 
tion before thy consecration may take place !” 

Then he lifted her up on to the horse, and gave her 
a goldem censer like those she had seen in the Viking’s 
hall. A fragrant perfume arose from it, and the open 
wound on the martyr ’s forehead gleamed like a radiant 
diadem. He took the cross from the grave, holding it 
high above him, while they rode rapidly through the 
air ; across the murmuring woods, and over the heights 
where the mighty warriors of old lay buried, each 
seated on his dead war-horse. These strong men of 
war arose and rode out to the summits of the mounds ; 
the broad golden circlets round their foreheads gleam- 
ing in the moonlight, and their cloaks fluttering in the 
wind. The great dragon hoarding his treasure raised 
his head to look at them, and whole hosts of dwarfs 
peeped forth from their hillocks, swarming with red, 
green, and blue lights, like sparks from the ashes of 
burnt paper. 

Away they flew over wood and heath, rivers and 
pools, up north towards the Wild Bog; arrived here 
they hovered round in great circles. The martyr 
raised high the cross, it shone like gold, and his lips 
chanted the holy mass. Little Helga sang with him as a 
240 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

child joins in its mother’s song. She swung the censer 
and from it issued a fragrance of the altar so strong 
and so wonder-working that the reeds and rushes burst 
into blossom, and numberless flower stems shot up from 
the bottomless depths ; everything that had life within 
it lifted itself up and blossomed. The water-lilies 
spread themselves over the surface of the pool like a 
carpet of wrought flowers, and on this carpet lay a 
sleeping woman. She was young and beautiful ; little 
Helga fancied she saw herself, her picture mirrored 
in the quiet pool. It was her mother she saw, the wife 
of the Marsh King, the princess from the river Nile. 

The martyred priest commanded the sleeping woman 
to be lifted up on to the horse, but the animal sank 
beneath the burden, as though it had no more substance 
than a winding-sheet floating on the wind ; but the sign 
of the cross gave strength to the phantom, and all three 
rode on through the air to dry ground. Just then the 
cock crew from the Viking’s hall, and the vision melted 
away in the mist which was driven along by the wind, 
but mother and daughter stood side by side. 

‘ ‘ Is it myself I see reflected in the deep water!” said 
the mother. 

“Do I see myself mirrored in a bright shield!” said 
the daughter. But as they approached and clasped 
each other heart to heart, the mother’s heart beat the 
fastest, and she understood. 

“My child! my own heart’s blossom! my lotus out 
of the deep waters!” and she wept over her daughter; 
her tears were a new baptism of love and life for little 
241 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Helga. “I came hither in a swan’s plumage, and here 
I threw it off,” said the mother. “I sank down into 
the bog, which closed around me. Some power always 
dragged me down, deeper and deeper. I felt the hand 
of sleep pressing upon my eyelids. I fell asleep, and 
I dreamt — I seemed to be again in the vast Egyptian 
Pyramid; but still before me stood the moving alder 
stump which had frightened me on the surface of the 
bog. I gazed at the fissures of the bark and they shone 
out in bright colors and turned to hieroglyphs ; it was 
the mummy’s wrappings I was looking at. The cover- 
ings burst asunder, and out of them walked the mummy 
king of a thousand years ago, black as pitch, black as 
the shining wood-snail or the slimy mud of the swamp. 
Whether it were the Mummy King or the Marsh King 
I knew not. He threw his arms around me, and I felt 
that I must die. When life came back to me I felt 
something warm upon my bosom; a little bird fluttering 
its wing and twittering. It flew from my bosom high 
up towards the heavy dark canopy, but a long green 
ribbon still bound it to me; I heard and understood 
its notes of longing: 1 Freedom! Sunshine! To the 
Father!’ I remembered my own father in the sunlit 
land of my home, my life, and my lave ! and I loosened 
the ribbon and let it flutter away — home to my father. 
Since that hour I have dreamt no more; I must have 
slept a long and heavy sleep till this hour, when sweet 
music and fragrant odors awoke me and set me 
free.” 

Where did now the green ribbon flutter which bound 

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(£> G.W. J. & CO. 


Among the water-lilies lay a sleeping woman 



ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the mother ’s heart to the wings of the bird ? Only the 
stork had seen it. The ribbon was the green stem, the 
bow the gleaming flower which cradled the little baby, 
now grown up to her full beauty, and once more rest- 
ing on her mother’s breast. While they stood there 
pressed heart to heart the stork was wheeling above 
their heads in great circles ; at length he flew away to 
his nest, and brought back the swan plumages so long 
cherished there. He threw one over each of them ; the 
feathers closed over them closely, and mother and 
daughter rose into the air as two white swans. 

“Now let us talk!” said the father stork; “for we 
can understand each other’s language, even if one sort 
of bird has a. different shaped beak from another. It 
is the most fortunate thing in the world that you ap- 
peared this evening. To-morrow we should have been 
off, mother and I and the young ones. We are going 
to fly southwards. Yes, you may look at me! I am 
an old friend from the Nile, so is mother too ; her heart 
is not so sharp as her beak ! She always said that the 
Princess would take care of herself! I and the young 
ones carried the swans’ plumage up here! How de- 
lighted I am, and how lucky it is that I am still here ; 
as soon as the day dawns we will set off, a great com- 
pany of storks. We will fly in front, you had better 
follow US', and then you won’t lose your way, and we 
will keep an eye upon you.” 

“And the lotus flower which I was to take with me,” 
said the Egyptian Princess, “flies by my side in a 
swan’s plumage. I take the flower of my heart with 
243 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


me, and so the riddle is solved. Now for home! 
home!” 

But Helga said she could not leave the Danish land 
without seeing her loving foster-mother once more, the 
Viking’s wife. For in Helga ’s memory now rose up 
every happy recollection, every tender word, and every 
tear her foster-mother had shed over her, and it al- 
most seemed as if she loved this mother best. 

i ‘Yes, we must go to the Viking’s hall,” said the 
father stork; “mother and the young ones are waiting 
for us there. How they will open their eyes and flap 
their wings! Mother doesn’t say much; she is some- 
what short and abrupt, but she means very well. Now 
I will make a great clattering to let them know we are 
coming!” 

So he clattered with his beak, and he and the swans 
flew off to the Viking’s hall. 

They all lay in a deep sleep within; the Viking’s 
wife had gone late to rest, for she was in great anxiety 
about little Helga, who had not been seen for three 
days. She had disappeared with the Christian priest, 
and she must have helped him away ; it was her horse 
which was missing from the stable. By what power 
had this been brought to pass? The Viking’s wife 
thought over all the many miracles which were said to 
have been performed by the “White Christ,” and by 
those who believed in Him and followed Him. All these 
thoughts took form in her dreams, and it seemed to her 
that she was still awake, sitting thoughtfully upon her 
bed while darkness reigned without. A storm arose; 
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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


she heard the rolling of the waves east and west of 
her from the North Sea, and from the waters of the 
Cattegat. The monstrous serpent which, according to 
her faith, encompassed the earth in the depths of the 
ocean, was trembling in convulsions from the dread of 
4 ‘ Ragnarok, ’ ’ the night of the gods. He personified the 
day of Judgment, when everything should pass away, 
even the great gods themselves. The Gialler horn 
sounded, and away over the rainbow rode the gods, 
clad in steel, to fight their last battle ; before them flew 
the shield maidens the Valkyrias, and the ranks were 
closed by the phantoms of the dead warriors. The 
whole atmosphere shone in the radiance of the northern 
lights, but darkness conquered in the end. It was a 
terrible hour, and in her dream little Helga sat close 
beside the frightened woman, crouching on the floor 
in the form of the hideous frog. She trembled and 
crept closer to her foster-mother who took her on her 
knee, and in her love pressed her to her bosom, not- 
withstanding the hideous frog’s skin. And the air re- 
sounded with the clashing of sword and club, and the 
whistling of arrows as though a fierce hailstorm were 
passing over them. The hour had come when heaven 
and earth were to pass away, the stars to fall, and 
everything to succumb to Surtur’s fire — and yet a new 
earth and a new heaven would arise, and fields of corn 
would wave where the seas now rolled over the golden 
sands. The God whom none might name would reign, 
and to Him would ascend Baldur the mild, the loving, 
redeemed from the kingdom of the dead — he was corn- 
245 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


ing — the Viking’s wife saw him plainly, she saw his 
face — it was that of the Christian priest, their prisoner. 
“ White Christ,’ ’ she cried aloud, and as she named 
the name she pressed a kiss upon the forehead of the 
loathsome toad; the frog’s skin fell away, and before 
her stood little Helga in all the radiance of her beauty, 
gentle as she had never been before, and with beam- 
ing eyes. She kissed her foster-mother’s hands, and 
blessed her for all the care and love she had shown in 
the days of her trial and misery. She thanked her 
for the thoughts she had instilled into her, and for 
naming the name which she now repeated, “ White 
Christ!” Little Helga rose up as a great white swan 
and spread her wings, with the rushing sound of a 
flock of birds of passage on the wing. 

The Viking’s wife was awakened by the rushing 
sound of wings outside ; she knew it was the time when 
the storks took their flight, and it was these she heard. 
She wanted to see them once more and to bid them 
farewell, so she got up and went out on to the balcony ; 
she saw stork upon stork sitting on the roofs of the out- 
buildings round the courtyard, and flocks of them were 
flying round and round in great circles. Just in front 
of her, on the edge of the well where little Helga so 
often had frightened her with her wildness, sat two 
white swans, who gazed at her with their wise eyes. 
Then she remembered her dream, which still seemed 
quite real to her. She thought of little Helga in the 
form of a swan. She thought of the Christian priest, 
and suddenly a great joy arose in her heart. The 
246 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


swans flapped their wings and bent their heads as if 
to greet her, and the Viking’s wife stretched out her 
arms towards them as if she understood all about it, 
and she smiled at them with tears in her eyes. 

“We are not going to wait for the swans,” said the 
mother stork; “if they want to travel with us they must 
come. We can’t dawdle here till the plovers start! It 
is very nice to travel as we do, the whole family to- 
gether, not like the chaffinches and the ruffs, when the 
males and females fly separately; it’s hardly decent! 
And why are those swans flapping their wings like 
that?” 

“Well, every one flies in his own way,” said the 
father stork. “The swans fly in an oblique line, the 
cranes in the form of a triangle, and the plovers in a 
curved line like a snake.” 

“Don’t talk about snakes while we are flying up 
here,” said the mother stork. “It puts desires into 
the young one’s heads which they can’t gratify.” 

“Are those the high mountains I used to hear 
about?” asked Helga in the- swan’s plumage. 

“Those are thunder clouds driving along beneath 
us,” said her mother. 

“What are those white clouds that rise so high?” 
again enquired Helga.. 

“Those are mountains covered with perpetual snows 
that you see yonder,” said her mother, as they flew 
across the Alps down towards the blue Mediterranean. 

“Africa’s land! Egypt’s strand!” said the daugh- 
ter of the Nile in her joy, as from far above in her 
247 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


swan’s plumage her eye fell upon the narrow waving 
yellow line, her birthplace. The other birds saw it too, 
and hastened their flight. 

“I smell the Nile mud and the frogs,” said the 
mother stork. “I am tingling all over. Now, you will 
have something nice to taste, and something to see 
too. There are the marabouts, the ibis, and the crane. 
They all belong to our family, but they are not nearly 
so handsome as we are ; they are very stuck up though, 
especially the ibis, they have been so spoilt by the 
Egyptians. They make mummies of him, and stuff 
him with spices. I would rather be stuffed with living 
frogs, and so would you, and so you shall be ! Better 
have something in your crops while you are alive than 
have a great fuss made over you after you are dead. 
That is my opinion, and I am always right.” 

“The storks have come back,” was said in the great 
house on the Nile, where its lord lay in the great hall 
on his downy cushions covered with a leopard skin, 
scarcely alive, and yet not dead either, waiting and 
hoping for the lotus flower from the deep morass in 
the north. 

Relatives and servants stood round his couch, when 
two great white swans who had come with the storks 
flew into the hall. They threw off their dazzling plum- 
age, and there stood two beautiful women as like each 
other as twin drops of dew. They bent over the pale 
withered old man, throwing back their long hair. 

As little Helga bent over her grandfather, the color 
came back to his cheeks, and new life returned to his 
248 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


limbs. The old man rose with health and energy re- 
newed; his daughter and granddaughter clasped him 
in their arms, as if with a joyous morning greeting 
after a long troubled night. 

Joy reigned through the house and in the stores 
nest too, but there the rejoicing was chiefly over the 
abundance of food, especially the swarms of frogs. 
And while the sages hastily sketched the story of the 
two Princesses and the flower of healing, which brought 
such joy and blessing to the land, the parent storks 
told the same story in their own way to their family; 
but only when they had all satisfied their appetites, 
or they would have had something better to do than to 
listen to stories. 

‘ 4 Surely you will be made something at last,” whis- 
pered the mother stork. 4 4 It wouldn’t be reasonable 
otherwise.” 

i i Oh, what should I be made 1 ’ ’ said the father stork ; 
1 1 and what have I done f Nothing at all ! ” 

“You have done more than all the others! Without 
you and the young ones the two Princesses would never 
have seen Egypt again, nor would the old man have 
recovered his health. You will become something. 
They will at least give you a doctor’s degree, and our 
young ones will be born with the title, and their young 
ones after them. Why, you look like an Egyptian 
doctor already, at least in my eyes !” 

And now the learned men and the sages set to work 
to propound the inner principle, as they called it, that 
lay at the root of the matter. “Love is the food of 
249 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

life,” was their text. Then came the explanations. 
“The Princess was the warm sunbeam; she went down 
to the Marsh King, and from their meeting sprang 
forth the blossom.” 

“I can’t exactly repeat the words,” said the father 
stork. He had been listening on the roof, and now 
wanted to tell them all about it in the nest. “What 
they said was so involved and so clever that they not 
only received rank, but presents too; even the head 
cook had a mark of distinction — most likely for the 
soup ! ’ ’ 

“And what did you get?” asked the mother stork. 
“They ought not to forget the most important person, 
and that is what you are ; the sages have only cackled 
about it all. But your turn will come, no doubt ! ’ ’ 

Late at night, when the whole happy household were 
wrapped in peaceful slumbers, there was still one 
watcher. It was not father stork, although he stood up 
in the nest on one leg like a sentry asleep at his post. 
No, it was little Helga. She was watching, bending 
out over the balcony in the clear air, gazing at the 
shining stars, bigger and purer in their radiance than 
she had ever seen them in the north ; and yet they were 
the same. She thought of the Viking’s wife by the 
Wild Bog; she thought of her foster-mother’s gentle 
eyes, and the tears she had shed over the poor frog- 
child, who now stood in the bright starlight and deli- 
cious spring air by the waters of the Nile. She 
thought of the love in the heathen woman’s breast, the 
love she had lavished on a miserable creature, who in 
250 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


human guise was a wild animal, and when in the form 
of an animal was hateful to the sight and to the touch. 
She looked at the shining stars, and remembered the 
dazzling light on the forehead of the martyred priest 
as he flew over moorland and forest. The tones of his 
voice came back to her, and words that he had said 
while she sat overwhelmed and crushed — words con- 
cerning the sublime source of love, the highest love 
embracing all generations of mankind. What had not 
been won and achieved by this love? Day and night 
little Helga was absorbed in the thought of her hap- 
piness; she entirely lost herself in the contemplation 
of it, like a child who turns hurriedly from the giver 
to examine the beautiful gifts. Happy she was indeed, 
and her happiness seemed ever growing; more might 
come, would come. In these thoughts she indulged, 
until she thought no more of the Giver. It was in the 
wantonness of youth that she thus sinned. Her eyes 
sparkled with pride, but suddenly she was roused from 
her vain dream. She heard a great clatter in the 
courtyard below, and, looking out, saw two great os- 
triches rushing hurriedly round in circles ; never before 
had she seen this great, heavy, clumsy bird, which 
looked as if its wings had been clipped, and the birds 
themselves had the appearance of having been roughly 
used. She asked what had happened to them, and for 
the first time heard the legend the Egyptians tell con- 
cerning the ostrich. 

Once, they say, the ostriches were a beautiful and 
glorious race of birds, with large, strong wings. One 
251 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


evening the great birds of the forest said to it, 
“ Brother, shall we to-morrow, God willing, go down 
to the river to drink ?” And the ostrich answered, “I 
will!” 

At the break of day, then, they flew off, first rising 
high in the air towards the sun, the eye of God; still 
higher and higher the ostrich flew, far in front of the 
other birds, in its pride flying close up to the light. 
He trusted in his own strength, and not on that of the 
Giver; he would not say “God willing!” But the 
avenging angel drew back the veil from the flaming 
ocean of sunlight, and in a moment the wings of 
the proud bird were burnt, and he sank miserably to 
the earth. Since that time the ostrich and his race 
have never been able to rise in the air ; he can only fly 
terror-stricken along the ground, or round and round 
in narrow circles. It is a warning to mankind, re- 
minding us in every thought and action to say “God 
willing ! 1 1 

Helga thoughtfully and seriously bent her head and 
looked at the hunted ostrich, noticed its fear and its 
miserable pride at the sight of its own great shadow 
on the white moonlit wall. Her thoughts grew graver 
and more earnest. A life so rich in joy had already 
been given her; what more was to come? The best of 
all perhaps — “God willing!” 

Early in the spring, when the storks were again 
about to take flight to the north, little Helga took off 
her gold bracelet, and, scratching her name on it, beck- 
oned to father stork and put it round his neck. She 
252 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


told him to take it to the Viking’s wife, who would see 
by it that her foster-daughter still lived, was happy, 
and had not forgotten her. 

4 4 It is a heavy thing to carry !” thought father stork, 
as it slipped on to his neck; “but neither gold nor 
honor are to be thrown upon the highway ! The stork 
brings good luck, they say up there !” 

“You lay gold, and I lay eggs,” said mother stork; 
‘ ‘ but you only lay once and I lay every year. But no 
one appreciates us; I call it very mortifying!” 

“One always has the consciousness of one’s own 
worth, though, mother!” said father stork. 

“But you can’t hang it outside,” said mother stork; 
“it neither gives a fair wind nor a full meal!” And 
they took their departure. 

The little nightingale singing in the tamarind bushes 
was also going north soon; Helga had often heard it 
singing by the Wild Bog, so she determined to send a 
message by it too. She knew the bird language from 
having worn a swan’s plumage, and she had kept it up 
by speaking to the storks and the swallows. The 
nightingale understood her quite well, so she begged 
it to fly to the beech-wood in Jutland, where she had 
made the grave of stones and branches; she bade it 
tell all the other little birds to guard the grave and to 
sing over it. The nightingale flew away — and time 
flew away too. 

In the autumn an eagle perched on one of the Pyra- 
mids saw a gorgeous train of heavily-laden camels, and 
men clad in armor riding fiery Arab steeds as white as 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


silver with quivering red nostrils and flowing manes 
reaching to the ground. A royal prince from Arabia, 
as handsome as a prince should be, was arriving at 
the stately mansion where now the storks’ nest stood 
empty; its inhabitants were still in their northern 
home; but they would soon now return — nay, on the 
very day when the rejoicings were at their height they 
returned. They were bridal festivities, and little 
Helga was the bride, clad in rich silk and many jewels. 
The bridegroom was the young prince from Arabia, 
and they sat together at the upper end of the table be- 
tween her mother and her grandfather. 

But Helga was not looking at the bridegroom’s 
handsome face round which his black beard curled, nor 
did she look into his fiery dark eyes which were fixed 
upon hers. She was gazing up at a brilliant twinkling 
star which was beaming in the heavens. 

Just then there was a rustle of great wings in the 
air outside; the storks had come back. And the old 
couple, tired as they were and needing rest, flew 
straight down to the railing of the veranda; they 
knew nothing about the festivities. They had heard 
on the frontiers of the country that little Helga had 
had them painted on the wall, for they belonged to the 
story of her life. 

“It was prettily done of her,” said father stork. 

“It is little enough,” said mother stork; “they could 
hardly do less.” 

When Helga saw them she rose from the table and 
went out on to the veranda to stroke their wings. 
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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The old storks bowed their heads, and the very young- 
est ones looked on and felt honored. And Helga 
looked up at the shining star, which seemed to grow 
brighter and purer; between herself and the star 
floated a form purer even than the air, and therefore 
visible to her. It floated quite close to her, and she 
saw that it was the martyred priest ; he also had come 
to her great festival — come even from the heavenly 
kingdom. 

“The glory and bliss yonder, far outshines these 
earthly splendors,’ ’ he said. 

Little Helga prayed more earnestly and meekly than 
she had ever done before, that for one single moment 
she might gaze into the kingdom of Heaven. Then she 
felt herself lifted up above the earth in a stream of 
sweet sounds and thoughts. The unearthly music was 
not only around her, it was within her. No words can 
express it. 

“Now we must return; you will be missed,” said the 
martyr. 

“Only one glance more,” she pleaded; “only one 
short moment more.” 

“We must return to earth; the guests are depart- 
ing.” 

“Only one look — the last.” 

Little Helga stood once again on the veranda, but 
all the torches outside were extinguished and the lights 
in the banqueting hall were out too ; the storks were 
gone; no guests were to be seen; no bridegroom— all 
had vanished in those short three minutes, 

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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


A great dread seized upon Helga; she walked 
through the great empty hall into the next chamber 
where strange warriors were sleeping. She opened a 
side door which led into her own room, but she found 
herself in a garden, which had never been there before. 
Red gleams were in the sky, dawn was approaching. 
Only three minutes in Heaven, and a whole night on 
earth had passed away. 

Then she saw the storks ; she called to them in her 
own language. Father stork turned his head, listened, 
and came up to her. 

“You speak our language/’ he said. “What do you 
want? Why do you come here, you strange woman?” 

“It is I; it is Helga; don’t you know me? We were 
talking to each other in the veranda three minutes 
ago.” 

“That is a mistake,” said the stork; “you must have 
dreamt it.” 

“No, no,” she said, and she reminded him of the 
Viking’s stronghold, and the Wild Bog, and their jour- 
ney together. 

Father stork blinked his eyes and said, “Why, that 
is a very old story ; I believe it happened in the time of 
my great-great-grandmother. Yes, there certainly 
was a princess in Egypt who came from the Danish 
land, but she disappeared on her wedding night many 
hundred years ago. You may read all about it here, 
on the monument in the garden. There are both 
storks and swans carved on it, and you are at the top 
yourself, all in white marble.” 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


And so it was; Helga understood all about it now 
and sank upon her knees. 

The sun burst forth, and, as in former times, the 
frog’s skin fell away before his beams and revealed 
the beautiful girl; so now, in the baptism of light, a 
vision of beauty, brighter and purer than the air — a 
ray of light — rose to the Father. The earthly body 
dropped away in dust — only a withered lotus flower 
lay where she had stood. 

‘ ‘Well, that is a new ending to the story,’ ’ said 
father stork; “I hadn’t expected that, but I like it very 
well. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘What will the young ones say about it?” asked 
mother stork. 

“Ah, that is a very important matter,” said father 
stork. 


257 


THE ROSES AND THE SPARROWS 


TT really appeared as if something very important 
was going on by the duck farm; but this was not 
the case. A few minutes before, all the ducks had 
been resting on the water, or standing on their heads, 
for they can do so, and then they all swam in a bustle 
to the shore ; the traces of their feet could be seen on 
the wet earth, and far and wide could be heard their 
quacking. The water, so lately clear and bright as a 
mirror, became disturbed. A moment before, every 
tree and bush near the old farmhouse, and the house 
itself, with the holes in the roof, and the swallow’s 
nests, and, above all, the beautiful rose-bush covered 
with roses, had been clearly reflected in the water. 
The rose-bush on the wall hung over the water, which 
resembled a picture, only everything appeared upside 
down ; but when the water was set in motion, it all van- 
ished and the picture disappeared. Two feathers 
dropped by the fluttering ducks floated to and fro on 
the water ; all at once they took a start, as if the wind 
were coming; but it did not come, so they were obliged 
to lie still, as the water became again quiet and at rest. 
The roses could once more behold their own reflec- 
tions ; they were very beautiful, but they knew it not, 
for no one had told them. The sun shone between the 
258 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


delicate leaves ; everywhere the sweet fragrance spread 
itself, creating sensations of deep happiness. 

“How beautiful is our existence !” said one of the 
roses. “I feel as if I should like to kiss the sun, it is 
so bright and warm. I should like to kiss the roses, 
too, our images in the water, and the pretty birds there 
in their nests. There are some birds, too, in a nest 
above us ; they stretch out their heads and cry ‘ Tweet, 
tweet ’ very faintly; they have no feathers yet, as 
their father and mother have ; they are good neighbors 
both above us and below us. How beautiful is our 
life !” The young birds above and the young ones be- 
low were the same ; they were sparrows, and their nest 
was reflected in the water. Their parents were spar- 
rows also, and they had taken possession of an empty 
swallow’s nest of the year before, and occupied it now 
as if it were their own. 

“Are those ducks’ children that are swimming 
about?” asked the young sparrows, as they spied the 
feathers on the water. 

“If you must ask questions, pray ask sensible ones,” 
said the mother. “Can you not see that these are 
feathers, the living stuff for clothes, which I wear and 
which you will wear soon? but ours are much finer. I 
should like, however, to have them up here in the nest, 
they would make it so warm. I am rather curious to 
know why the ducks were so alarmed just now ; it could 
not be from fear of us, certainly, though I did say 
< tweet’ rather loudly. The thick-headed roses really 
ought to know, but they are very ignorant; they only 
259 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


look at one another and smell. I am heartily tired of 
such neighbors/ ’ 

“ Listen to the sweet little birds above us,” said the 
roses; “they are trying to sing; they cannot manage it 
yet, but it will be done in time ; what a pleasure it will 
be, and how nice to have such lively neighbors.” 

Suddenly two horses came prancing along to drink 
at the water; a peasant boy rode on one of them; he 
had a broad-brimmed black hat on, but had taken off 
most of his other clothes that he might ride into the 
deepest part of the pond; he whistled like a bird, and 
while passing the rose-bush he plucked a rose and 
placed it in his hat, and then rode on, thinking himself 
very fine. The other roses looked at their sister, and 
asked each other where she could be going, but they did 
not know. 

“I should like for once to go out into the world,” 
said one, “although it is very lovely here in our home 
of green leaves. The sun shines warmly by day, and 
in the night we can see that heaven is more beautiful 
still, as it sparkles through the holes in the sky. ’ 9 

She meant the stars, for she knew no better. 

“We make the house very lively,” said the mother 
sparrow, “and people say that a swallow’s nest brings 
luck, therefore they are pleased to see us ; but as to our 
neighbors, a rose-bush on the wall produces damp. It 
will most likely be removed, and perhaps corn will 
grow here instead of it. Roses are good for nothing 
but to be looked at, and smelt, or perhaps one may 
chance to be stuck in a hat. I have heard from my 
260 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


mother that they fall off every year. The farmer's 
wife preserves them by laying them in salt, and then 
they receive a French name, which I neither can nor 
will pronounce; then they are sprinkled on the fire to 
produce a pleasant smell. Such, you see, is their life. 
They are only formed to please the eye and the nose. 
Now you know all about them." 

As evening approached, the gnats played about in 
the warm air beneath the rosy clouds, and the nightin- 
gale came and sang to the roses, that the beautiful was 
like sunshine to the world, and that the beautiful lives 
forever. The roses thought that the nightingale was 
singing of herself, which any one, indeed, could easily 
suppose ; they never imagined that her song could refer 
to them. But it was a joy to them, and they wondered 
to themselves whether all the little sparrows in the 
nest would become nightingales. 

“We understood that bird's song very well," said 
the young sparrows, “but one word was not clear. 
What is the beautiful?” 

“Oh, nothing of any consequence," replied the 
mother sparrow. “It is something relating to appear- 
ances o'er yonder at the nobleman's house. The pig- 
eons have a house of their own, and every day they 
have corn and peas spread for them. I have dined 
there with them sometimes, and so shall you by-and-by, 
for I believe the old maxim — ‘Tell me what company 
you keep, and I will tell you what you are.' Well, over 
at the noble house there are two birds with green 
throats and crests on their heads. They can spread 
261 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


out their tails like large wheels, and they reflect so 
many beautiful colors that it dazzles the eyes to look 
at them. These birds are called peacocks, and they 
belong to the beautiful, but if only a few of their feath- 
ers were plucked off they would not appear better than 
we do. I would myself have plucked some out had 
they not been so large.” 

“I will pluck them,” squeaked the youngest spar- 
row, who had as yet no feathers of his own. 

In the cottage dwelt two young married people, who 
loved each other very much, and were industrious and 
active, so that everything looked neat and pretty 
around them. On Sunday mornings early the young 
wife came out, gathered a handful of the most beauti- 
ful roses, and put them in a glass of water, which she 
placed on a side table. 

“I see now that it is Sunday,” said the husband as 
he kissed his little wife. Then they sat down and read 
their hymn-books, holding each other’s hands, while the 
sun shone down upon the young couple, and upon the 
fresh roses in the glass. 

“This sight is really too wearisome,” said the 
mother sparrow, who from her nest could look into the 
room, and she flew away. 

The same thing occurred the next Sunday, and in- 
deed every Sunday, fresh roses were gathered and 
placed in a glass, but the rose-tree continued to bloom 
in all its beauty. After a while the young sparrows 
were fledged, and wanted to fly, but the mother would 
not allow it, and so they were obliged to remain in the 
262 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


nest for the present, while she flew away alone. It so 
happened that some boys had fastened a snare, made 
of horsehair, to the branch of a tree, and before she 
was aware, her leg became entangled in the horsehair 
so tightly as almost to cut it through. What pain and 
terror she felt! The boys ran up quickly and seized 
her, not in a very gentle manner. 

“It is only a sparrow,’ ’ they said. However, they 
did not let her fly, but took her home with them, and 
every time she squeaked they knocked her on the beak. 

In the farmyard they met an old man, who knew how 
to make soap for shaving and washing, in cakes or in 
balls. When he saw the sparrow which the boys had 
brought home, and which they said they did not know 
what to do with, he said “Shall we make it beautiful ?” 

A cold shudder passed over the sparrow when she 
heard this. The old man then took a shell containing 
a quantity of glittering gold leaf, from a box, full of 
beautiful colors, and told the youngsters to fetch the 
white of an egg, with which he besmeared the sparrow 
all over, and then laid the gold leaf upon it; so that 
the mother sparrow was now gilded from head to tail. 
But she thought not of her appearance, but trembled in 
every limb. Then the soap-maker tore a little piece 
out of the red lining of his jacket, cut notches in it, so 
that it looked like a cock’s comb, and stuck it on the 
bird’s head. “Now you will see gold- jacket fly,” said 
the old man, and he released the sparrow, which flew 
away in deadly terror, with the sunlight shining upon 
her. How she did glitter ; all the sparrows, and even 
263 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


a crow, who is a knowing old boy, were scared at the 
sight; yet still they followed it to discover what for- 
eign bird it could be. Driven by anguish and terror 
she flew homewards, almost ready to sink to the earth 
for want of strength. The flock of birds that were fol- 
lowing increased, and some even tried to peck her. 

“Look at him! Look at him!” they all cried. 
“Look at him! Look at him!” cried the young ones 
as their mother approached the nest, hut they did not 
know her. “That must he a young peacock, for he 
glitters in all colors; it quite hurts one’s eyes to look 
at him, as mother told us; ‘tweet,’ this is the beauti- 
ful” And then they pecked the bird with their little 
beaks, so that she was quite unable to get into the nest, 
and was too much exhausted even to say “tweet,” 
much less to say “I am your mother.” So the other 
birds fell upon the sparrow and pulled out feather 
after feather, till she sunk bleeding into the rose-bush. 

“You poor creature,” said the roses, “be at rest, 
we will hide you, lean your little head against us. ’ ’ 

The sparrow spread out her wings once more, and 
drew them in close to her, and lay dead amongst the 
roses, her fresh and lovely neighbors. 

“Tweet,” sounded from the nest, “where can our 
mother be staying? it is quite unaccountable. Can this 
be a trick of hers to show us that we are now to take 
care of ourselves? She has left us the house as an 
inheritance, but as it cannot belong to us all when we 
have families, who is to have it?” 

“It won’t do for you all to stay with me when I 

264 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


increase my household with a wife and children,’ ’ re- 
marked the youngest. 

“ I shall have more wives and children than you,” 
said the second. 

“But I am the eldest,” cried a third. 

Then they all became angry, beat each other with 
their wings, pecked with their beaks, till one after 
another bounded out of the nest. There they lay in 
a rage, holding their heads on one side and twinkling 
the eye that looked upwards. This was their way of 
looking sulky. They could all fly a little, and by prac- 
tice they soon learnt to do so much better. At length 
they agreed upon a sign by which they might be able 
to recognize each other, in case they should meet in 
the world after they had separated. This sign was to 
be the cry of “tweet, tweet,” and a scratching on the 
ground three times with the left foot. The youngster, 
who was left behind in the nest, spread himself out as 
broad as ever he could, he was the householder now. 
But his glory did not last long; for during that night 
red flames of fire burst through the windows of the 
cottage, they seized the thatched roof and blazed up 
frightfully ; the whole house was burned down and the 
sparrow perished with it, while the young couple fortu- 
nately escaped with their lives. When the sun rose 
again, and all nature looked refreshed as after a quiet 
sleep, nothing remained of the cottage but a few 
blackened charred beams, leaning against the chimney 
that now was the only master of the place. Thick 
smoke still rose from the ruins, but outside on the 
265 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


wall the rose-bush still remained unhurt, blooming and 
fresh as ever, while each flower and each spray was 
mirrored in the clear water beneath. 

“How beautifully the roses are blooming on the 
walls of that ruined cottage,’ ’ said a passer-by. “A 
more lovely picture could scarcely be imagined. I 
must have it. ’ ’ 

And the speaker took out of his pocket a little book, 
full of white leaves of paper, for he was an artist, and 
with a pencil he took a sketch of the smoking ruins, 
the blackened rafters, and the chimney that overhung 
them, and which seemed more and more to totter ; and 
quite in the foreground stood the large, blooming rose- 
bush, which added beauty to the picture ; and, indeed, 
for the sake of the roses the sketch had been made. 
Later in the day two of the sparrows who had been 
born there came by. 

“Where is the house!” they asked. “Where is the 
nest! ‘tweet tweet’; all is burnt down, and our strong 
brother with it. That is all he has got by keeping the 
nest. The roses have escaped famously; they look as 
well as ever, with their rosy cheeks: they do not 
trouble themselves about their neighbor’s misfortunes. 
I won’t speak to them: and really, in my opinion, the 
place looks very ugly;” so he flew away. 

On a fine, bright sunny day in autumn, so bright 
that any one might have supposed it was still the 
middle of summer, a number of pigeons were hopping 
about in the nicely-kept courtyard of the nobleman’s 
house, in front of the great steps. Some were black, 
266 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


others white, and some of various colors, and their 
plumage glittered in the sunshine. An old mother 
pigeon said to her young ones, “Place yourselves in 
groups! place yourselves in groups! it has a much 
better appearance / 9 

“What are those little gray creatures which are run- 
ning about behind us?” asked an old pigeon, with red 
and green round her eyes. “Little gray ones, little 
gray ones,” she cried. 

“They are sparrows; good little creatures enough. 
We have always had the character of being very good- 
natured, so we allow them to pick up some corn with 
us; and they do not interrupt our conversation, and 
they draw back their left foot so prettily.” 

Sure enough so they did, three times each, and with 
the left foot too, and said “tweet,” by which we recog- 
nize them as the sparrows that were brought up in the 
nest on the house that was burnt down. 

“The food here is very good,” said the sparrows; 
while the pigeons strutted round each other, puffed 
out their throats, and formed their own opinions on 
what they observed. 

“Do you see the pouter pigeon?” said one of an- 
other. “Do you see how he swallows the peas? He 
takes too much, and always chooses the best of every- 
thing. Coo-oo, coo-oo. How the ugly, spiteful crea- 
ture erects his crest.” And all their eyes sparkled 
with malice. “Place yourselves in groups, place your- 
selves in groups. Little gray coats ; little gray coats. 
Coo-oo, coo-oo.” 


267 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


So they went on, and it will be the same a thousand 
years hence. The sparrows feasted bravely, and lis- 
tened attentively; they even stood in ranks like the 
pigeons, but it did not suit them. So having satis- 
fied their hunger, they left the pigeons passing their 
own opinions upon them to each other, and then 
slipped through the garden railings. The door of a 
room in the house leading into the garden stood open, 
and one of them feeling brave after his good dinner, 
hopped upon the threshold, crying, * ‘ Tweet; I can 
venture so far.” 

“ Tweet,” said another; “ I can venture that and a 
great deal more,” and into the room he hopped. 

The first followed, and seeing no one there, the third 
became courageous, and flew right across the room, 
saying, “ Venture everything, or do not venture at all. 
This is a wonderful place, a man’s nest I suppose, and, 
look ! — what can this be ? ” 

Just in front of the sparrows stood the ruins of the 
burnt cottage; roses were blooming over it, and their 
reflection appeared in the water beneath, and the black 
charred beams rested against the tottering chimney. 
How could it be? How came the cottage and the roses 
in a room in the nobleman’s house? And then the 
sparrows tried to fly over the roses and the chimney, 
but they only struck themselves against a flat wall. 
It was a picture — a large beautiful picture, which the 
artist had painted from the little sketch he had taken. 

“ Tweet,” said the sparrows; “it is really nothing 
after all ; it only looks like reality. Tweet, I suppose 
268 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


that is the beautiful . Can you understand it? I can- 
not/’ 

Then some persons entered the room, and the spar- 
rows flew away. Years and days passed; the pigeons 
had often “coo-oo-d,” we must not say quarreled, 
though perhaps they did, naughty things. The spar- 
rows had suffered from cold in the winter, and lived 
gloriously in summer. They were all betrothed, or 
married, or whatever you like to call it. They had 
little ones, and of course each considered his own brood 
the wisest and the prettiest. One flew in this direction, 
and another in that, and when they met, they recog- 
nized each other by saying “ tweet,” and three times 
drawing back the left foot. The eldest remained 
single, she had no nest, nor young ones ; her great wish 
was to see a large town, so she flew to Copenhagen. 
Near to the castle that stood by the channel could be 
seen a large house, which was richly decorated with 
various colors. Down the channel sailed many ships, 
laden with apples and earthenware. The windows 
were broader below than at the top, and when the 
sparrows peeped through, they saw a room that looked 
to them like a tulip, with beautiful colors of every 
shade. Within the tulip were white figures of human 
beings, made of marble, some few of plaster, but this 
is the same thing to a sparrow. Upon the roof stood 
a metal chariot and horses ; and the goddess of victory, 
also of metal, was seated in the chariot driving the 
horses. It was Thorwaldsen’s Museum. “How it 
shines and glitters!” said the maiden sparrow; “this 
269 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

must be the beautiful — tweet — only this is larger than 
a peacock .’ 9 She remembered what her mother had 
told them in her childhood, that the peacock was one 
of the greatest examples of the beautiful. She flew 
down into the courtyard, where everything also was 
very grand. The walls were painted to represent palm 
branches, and in the midst of the court stood a large, 
blooming rose-tree, spreading its young, sweet, rose- 
covered branches over a grave. Thither the maiden 
sparrow flew, for she saw many others of her own kind. 

“ Tweet,” said she, drawing back her foot three 
times. She had, during the years that had passed, 
often made the usual greeting to the sparrows she met, 
but without receiving any acknowledgment, for friends 
who are once separated do not meet every day. This 
manner of greeting was become a habit to her, and 
to-day two old sparrows and a young one returned the 
greeting. 

‘ i Tweet,” they replied, and drew back the left foot 
three times. They were two old sparrows out of the 
nest, and a young one belonging to the family. “Ah, 
good-day; how do you do? To think of our meeting 
here ! This is a very grand place, but there is not much 
to eat; this is the beautiful. Tweet.” 

A great many people now came out of the side rooms, 
in which the marble statues stood, and approached the 
grave where slept the remains of the great master w T ho 
had carved these marble statues. Each face had a 
reflected glory as they stood round Thorwaldsen’s 
grave, and some few gathered up the fallen rose-leaves 
270 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


to preserve them. They had all come from afar. One 
from mighty England, others from Germany and 
France. One very handsome lady plucked a rose, and 
concealed it in her bosom. Then the sparrows thought 
that the roses ruled in this place, and that the whole 
house had been built for them, which seemed really too 
much honor; but as all the people showed their love 
for the roses, the sparrows thought they would 
not remain behindhand in paying their respects. 
‘ 1 Tweet , 1 1 they said, and swept the ground with their 
tails, and glanced with one eye at the roses. They had 
not looked at them very long, however, before they felt 
convinced that they were old acquaintances, and so 
they actually were. The artist who had sketched the 
rose-bush and the ruins of the cottage had since then 
received permission to transplant it, and had given it 
to the architect, for more beautiful roses had never 
been seen. The architect had planted it on the grave 
of Thorwaldsen, where it continued to bloom, the image 
of the beautiful, scattering its fragrant rosy leaves to 
be gathered and carried away into distant lands in 
memory of the spot on which they fell. 

‘ ‘Have you obtained a situation in town?” asked the 
sparrows of the roses. 

The roses nodded ; they recognized their little brown 
neighbors, and were rejoiced to see them again. 

4 ‘It is very delightful,” said the roses, “to live here 
and to blossom, to meet old friends, and to see cheer- 
ful faces every day. It is as if each day were a 
holiday.” 


271 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“ Tweet,” said the sparrows to each other. “Yes, 
these really are our old neighbors. We remember their 
origin near the pond. Tweet; how they have risen, 
to be sure. Some people seem to get on while they 
are asleep. Ah! there’s a withered leaf, I can see it 
quite plainly. ’ ’ 

And they pecked at the leaf till it fell. But the rose- 
bush continued fresher and greener than ever. The 
roses bloomed in the sunshine on Thorwaldsen’s grave, 
and thus became linked with his immortal name. 


272 


GREAT CLAUS AND LITTLE CLAUS 


I N a village there once lived two men of the self-same 
name. They were both called Clans, but one of them 
had four horses, and the other had only one; so to 
distinguish them people called the owner of the four 
horses “Great Claus,” and he who had only one 
“Little Claus.’ ’ Now I shall tell you what happened 
to them, for this is a true story. 

Throughout the week Little Claus was obliged to 
plow for Great Claus, and to lend him his one horse ; 
but once a week, on Sunday, Great Claus lent him all 
his four horses. 

“Hurrah!” How Little Claus would smack his 
whip over all five, for they were as good as his own on 
that one day. 

The sun shone brightly and the church bells rang 
merrily as the people passed by, dressed in their best, 
with their prayer-books under their arms. They were 
going to hear the parson preach. They looked at Little 
Claus plowing with his five horses, and he was so 
proud that he smacked his whip and said, “Gee-up, 
my five horses.” 

“You mustn’t say that,” said Great Claus, “for only 
one of them is yours.” 

But Little Claus soon forgot what he ought not to 

273 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


say, and when any one passed, he would call out, 
“ Gee-up, my five horses.’ ’ 

“I must really beg you not to say that again,” said 
Great Claus, “for if you do, I shall hit your horse on 
the head, so that he will drop down dead on the spot, 
and there will be an end of him.” 

“I promise you I will not say it again,” said the 
other; but as soon as anybody came by nodding to 
him, and wishing him “Good-day,” he was so pleased, 
and thought how grand it was to have five horses 
plowing in his field, that he cried out again, “Gee-up, 
all my horses!” 

“I’ll gee-up your horses for you,” said Great Claus, 
and seizing the tethering mallet he struck Little Claus ’s 
one horse on the head, and it fell down dead. 

“Oh, now I have no horse at all,” said Little Claus, 
weeping. But after a while he flayed the dead horse, 
and hung up the skin in the wind to dry. 

Then he put the dried skin into a bag, and hanging 
it over his shoulder went off to the next town to sell 
it. But he had a long way to go, and had to pass 
through a dark and gloomy forest. 

Presently a storm arose, and he lost his way; and 
before he discovered the right path evening was draw- 
ing on, and it was still a long way to the town, and too 
far to return home before nightfall. 

Near the road stood a large farmhouse. The shut- 
ters outside the windows were closed, but lights 
shone through the crevices and at the top. “They 
might let me stay here for the night,” thought Little 

m 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


Claus, so he went up to the door and knocked. The 
farmer’s wife opened the door, but when she heard 
what he wanted, she told him to go away; her hus- 
band was not at home, and she could not let any 
strangers in. 

“Then I shall have to lie out here,” said Little 
Claus to himself as the farmer’s wife shut the door in 
his face. 

Close to the farmhouse stood a large haystack, and 
between it and the house there was a small shed with 
a thatched roof. “I can lie up there,” said Little 
Claus, as he saw the roof ; “it will make a famous bed, 
but I hope the stork won’t fly down and bite my legs.” 
A live stork was standing up there who had his nest 
on the roof. 

So Little Claus climbed on to the roof of the shed, 
and as he turned about to make himself comfortable 
he discovered that the wooden shutters did not reach 
to the top of the windows, so that he could see into the 
room, in which a large table was laid out, with wine, 
roast meat, and a splendid fish. 

The farmer’s wife and the sexton were sitting at 
table together, nobody else was there. She was filling 
his glass and helping him plentifully to fish, which ap- 
peared to be his favorite dish. 

“If only I could have some too,” thought Little 
Claus, and then as he stretched out his neck towards 
the window he spied a beautiful, large cake — indeed, 
they had a glorious feast before them. 

At that moment he heard some one riding down the 

275 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


road towards the farm. It was the farmer coming 
home. 

He was a good man, but he had one very strange 
prejudice — he could not bear the sight of a sexton. If 
he happened to see one he would get into a terrible 
rage. In consequence of this dislike, the sexton had 
gone to visit the farmer’s wife during her husband’s 
absence from home, and the good woman had put be- 
fore him the best of everything she had in the house 
to eat. 

When they heard the farmer they were dreadfully 
frightened, and the woman made the sexton creep into 
a large chest which stood in a corner. He went at 
once, for he was well aware of the poor man’s aversion 
to the sight of a sexton. The woman then quickly hid 
all the nice things and the wine in the oven, because if 
her husband had seen it he would have asked why it 
was provided. 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Little Claus, on the roof, when 
he saw the food disappearing. 

“Is there any one up there?” asked the farmer, 
peering up at Little Claus. “What are you doing up 
there ? You had better come into the house. ’ ’ 

Then Little Claus told him how he had lost his way, 
and asked if he might have shelter for the night. 

“Certainly,” said the farmer; “but the first thing 
is to have something to eat. ’ ’ 

The woman received them both very kindly, laid the 
table, and gave them a large bowl of porridge. The 
farmer was hungry and ate it with a good appetite; 
276 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


but Little Claus could not help thinking of the good 
roast meat, the fish, and the cake, which he knew were 
hidden in the oven. 

He had put his sack with the hide in it under the 
table by his feet, for, as we remember, he was on his 
way to the town to sell it. He did not fancy the por- 
ridge, so he trod on the sack and made the dried hide 
squeak quite loudly. 

“Hush!” said Little Claus to his sack, at the same 
time treading on it again, so that it squeaked louder 
than ever. 

“What on earth have you got in your sack?” asked 
the farmer again. 

“Oh, it’s a Goblin,” said Little Claus; “he says we 
needn’t eat the porridge, for he has charmed the oven 
full of roast meat and fish and cake.” 

“What do you say!” said the farmer, opening the 
oven door with all speed, and seeing the nice things the 
woman had hidden, but which her husband thought the 
Goblin had produced for their special benefit. 

The woman dared not say anything, but put the food 
before them, and then they both made a hearty meal 
of the fish, the meat, and the cake. 

Then Little Claus trod on the skin and made it 
squeak again. 

“What does he say now?” asked the farmer. 

“He says,” answered Little Claus, “that he has also 
charmed three bottles of wine into the oven for us.” 

So the woman had to bring out the wine too, and the 
farmer drank it and became very merry. Wouldn’t 
277 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


he like to have a Goblin, like the one in Little Claus ’ 
sack, for himself? 

“Can he charm out the Devil ?” asked the farmer. 
“I shouldn’t mind seeing him, now that I am in such 
a merry mood.” 

“Oh, yes!” said Little Claus; “my Goblin can do 
everything that we ask him. Can’t you?” he asked, 
trampling up the sack till it squeaked louder than ever. 
“Do you hear what I say? But the Devil is so ugly, 
you’d better not see him.” 

“Oh! I’m not a bit frightened. Whatever does he 
look like ? ’ ’ 

“Well, he will show himself in the image of a sex- 
ton.” 

“Oh, dear!” said the farmer; “that’s had! I must 
tell you that I can’t bear to see a sexton! However, 
it doesn’t matter; I shall know it’s only the Devil, and 
then I shan’t mind so much! Now, my courage is up! 
But he mustn’t come too close.” 

“I’ll ask my Goblin about it,” said Little Claus, 
treading on the bag and putting his ear close to it. 

“What does he say?” 

“He says you can go along and open the chest in 
the corner, and there you’ll see the Devil moping in 
the dark; but hold the lid tight so that he doesn’t get 
out. ’ ’ 

“Will you help me to hold it!” asked the farmer, 
going along to the chest where the woman had hidden 
the real sexton, who was shivering with fright. 

The farmer lifted up the lid a wee little bit and 

278 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


peeped in. “Ha!” he shrieked, and sprang back. 
“Yes, I saw him, and he looked just exactly like our 
sexton ! It was a horrible sight. ’ ’ 

They had to have a drink after this, and there they 
sat drinking till far into the night. 

“You must sell me that Goblin, ” said the farmer. 
“You may ask what you like for him! I’ll give you 
a bushel of money for him. ’ ’ 

“No, I can’t do that,” said Little Claus; “you must 
remember how useful my Goblin is to me.” 

“Oh, but I should so like to have him,” said the 
farmer, and he went on begging for him. 

“Well,” said Little Claus at last, “as you have been 
so kind to me I shall have to give him up. You shall 
have my Goblin for a bushel of money, but I must have 
it full to the brim!” 

“You shall have it,” said the farmer; “but you must 
take that chest away with you; I won’t have it in the 
house for another hour; you never know whether he’s 
there or not.” 

So Little Claus gave his sack with the dried hide in 
it to the farmer, and received in return a bushel of 
money for it and the measure was full to the brim. 
The farmer also gave him a large wheelbarrow to take 
the money and the chest away in. 

“Good-by!” said Little Claus, and off he went with 
his money and the big chest with the sexton in it. 

There was a wide and deep river on the other side 
of the wood, the stream was so strong that it was al- 
most impossible to swim against it. A large new 
279 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


bridge had been built across it, and when they got into 
the very middle of it, Little Claus said quite loud, so 
that the sexton could hear him — 

“What am I to do with this stupid old chest? it 
might be full of paving stones, it’s so heavy! I am 
quite tired of wheeling it along; I ’ll just throw it into 
the river ; if it floats down the river to my house, well 
and good, and if it doesn’t, I shan’t care.” 

Then he took hold of the chest and raised it up a bit, 
as if he was about to throw it into the river. 

“No, no! let it be!” shouted the sexton; “let me 
get out ! ’ ’ 

“Hullo!” said Little Claus, pretending to be fright- 
ened. “Why, he’s still inside it, then I must have it 
into the river to drown him.” 

“Oh, no; oh, no!” shouted the sexton. “I’ll give 
you a bushel full of money if you ’ll let me out ! ’ ’ 

“Oh, that’s another matter,” said Little Claus, 
opening the chest. The sexton crept out at once and 
pushed the empty chest into the water, and then went 
home and gave Little Claus a whole bushel full of 
money: he had already had one from the farmer, 
you know, so now his wheelbarrow was quite full of 
money. 

“I got a pretty fair price for that horse I must 
admit!” said he to himself when he got home to his 
own room and turned the money out of the wheelbar- 
row into a heap on the floor. “What a rage Great 
Claus will be in when he discovers how rich I am be- 
come through my one horse, but I won’t tell him 
280 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


straight about it.” So he sent a boy to Great Claus 
to borrow a bushel measure. 

“ What does he want that f or ! ’ ’ thought Great Claus, 
and he rubbed some tallow on the bottom, so that a 
little of whatever was to be measured might stick to it. 
So it did, for when the measure came back three new 
silver threepenny bits were sticking to it. 

“What’s this?” said Great Claus, and he ran 
straight along to Little Claus. i 6 Where on earth did 
you get all that money?” 

“Oh, that was for my horse’s hide which I sold last 
night. ’ 9 

“That was well paid indeed,” said Great Claus, and 
he ran home, took an axe and hit all his four horses 
on the head. He then flayed them and went off to 
the town with the hides. 

“Skins, skins, who will buy skins?” he shouted up 
and down the streets. 

All the shoemakers and tanners in the town came 
running up and asked him how much he wanted for 
them. 

“A bushel of money for each,” said Great Claus. 

“Are you mad?” they all said; “do you imagine 
we have money by the bushel ? 9 ’ 

“Skins, skins, who will buy skins?” he shouted 
again, and the shoemakers took up their measures and 
the tanners their leather aprons, and beat Great Claus 
through the town. 

“Skins, skins!” they mocked him. “Yes, we’ll give 
you a raw hide. Out of the town with him!” they 
281 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


shouted, and Great Claus had to hurry off as fast as 
ever he could go. He had never had such a beating in 
his life. 

“ Little Claus shall pay for this ! , ? he said when he 
got home. “I’ll kill him for it.” 

‘ ‘ Little Claus’s old grandmother had just died in his 
house ; she certainly had been very cross and unkind to 
him, but now that she was dead he felt quite sorry 
about it. He took the dead woman and put her into 
his warm bed, to see if he could bring her to life again. 
He meant her to stay there all night, and he would sit 
on a chair in the corner; he had slept like that before. 

As he sat there in the night, the door opened, and 
in came Great Claus with his ax ; he knew where Little 
Claus’s bed stood, and he went straight up to it and 
hit the dead grandmother a blow on the forehead, 
thinking that it was Little Claus. 

“Just see if you’ll cheat me again after that!” he 
said, and then he went home again. 

“What a bad, wicked man he is,” said Little Claus; 
“he was going to kill me there. What a good thing 
that poor old granny was dead already, or else he 
would have killed her. ’ ’ 

He now dressed his old grandmother in her best Sun- 
day clothes, borrowed a horse of his neighbor, har- 
nessed it to a cart, and set his grandmother on the back 
seat, so that she could not fall out when the cart moved. 
Then he started off through the wood. When the sun 
rose he was just outside a big inn, and Little Claus 
drew up his horse and went in to get something to eat. 

282 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The landlord was a very, very rich man, and a very 
good man, but he was fiery-tempered, as if he were 
made of pepper and tobacco. 

“Good morning !” said he to Little Claus; “you’ve 
got your best clothes on very early this morning ! ’ ’ 

“Yes,” said Little Claus; “I’m going to town with 
my old grandmother, she’s sitting out there in the 
cart, I can’t get her to come in. Won’t you take her 
out a glass of mead? You’ll have to shout at her, she’s 
very hard of hearing. ’ ’ 

“Yes, she shall have it!” said the innkeeper, and he 
poured out a large glass of mead which he took out 
to the dead grandmother in the cart. 

“Here is a glass of mead your son has sent!” said 
the innkeeper, but the dead woman sat quite still and 
never said a word. 

“Don’t you hear?” shouted the innkeeper as loud 
as ever he could; “here is a glass of mead from your 
son!” 

Again he shouted, and then again as loud as ever, but 
as she did not stir, he got angry and threw the glass of 
mead in her face, so that the mead ran all over her, and 
she fell backwards out of the cart, for she was only 
stuck up and not tied in. 

“Now!” shouted Little Claus, as he rushed out of 
the inn and seized the landlord by the neck, “you have 
killed my grandmother! Just look, there’s a great 
hole in her forehead!” 

“Oh, what a misfortune!” exclaimed the innkeeper, 
clasping his hands; “that’s the consequence of my 
283 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


fiery temper! Good Little Claus, I will give you a 
bushel of money, and bury your grandmother as if she 
had been my own, if you will only say nothing about 
it, or else they will chop my head off, and that is so 
nasty / 9 

So little Claus had a whole bushel of money, and the 
inn-keeper buried the old grandmother just as if she 
had been his own. 

When Little Claus got home again with all his 
money, he immediately sent over his boy to Great 
Claus to borrow his measure. 

“What!” said Great Claus, “is he not dead? I 
shall have to go and see about it myself ! ’ ’ So he took 
the measure over to Little Claus himself. 

“I say, wherever did you get all that money?” asked 
he, his eyes round with amazement at what he saw. 

‘ i It was my grandmother you killed instead of me!” 
said Little Claus. “I have sold her and got a bushel 
of money for her!” 

“That was good pay indeed!” said Great Claus, and 
he hurried home, took an ax and killed his old grand- 
mother. 

He then put her in a cart and drove off to town with 
her where the apothecary lived, and asked if he would 
buy a dead body. 

“Who is it, and where did the body come from?” 
asked the apothecary. 

“It is my grandmother, and I have killed her for 
a bushel of money!” said Great Claus. 

“Heaven preserve us !” said the apothecary. “You 

284 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


are talking like a madman; pray don’t say such things, 
you might lose your head ! ’ 9 

And he pointed out to him what a horribly wicked 
thing he had done, and what a bad man he was who 
deserved punishment. Great Claus was so frightened 
that he rushed straight out of the shop, jumped into 
the cart, whipped up his horse and galloped home. 
The apothecary and every one else thought he was 
mad, and so they let him drive off. 

“You shall be paid for this!” said Great Claus, 
when he got out on the high road. “You shall pay for 
this, Little Claus ! 9 9 

As soon as he got home, he took the biggest sack 
he could find, went over to Little Claus and said, — 

“You have deceived me again! First I killed my 
horses, and then my old grandmother! It’s all your 
fault, but you shan’t have the chance of cheating me 
again!” 

Then he took Little Claus by the waist and put him 
into the sack, put it on his back, and shouted to him — 
“I’m going to drown you now!” 

It was a long way to go before he came to the river, 
and Little Claus was not so light to carry. The road 
passed close by the church in which the organ was 
playing, and the people were singing beautifully. 
Great Claus put down the sack with Little Claus in it 
close by the church door, and thought he would like to 
go and hear a psalm before he went any further. 
Little Claus could not get out of the bag, and all the 
people were in the church, so he went in too. 

285 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 

“Oh, dear, oh dear!” sighed Little Claus in the 
sack. He turned and twisted, but it was impossible 
to undo the cord. Just then an old cattle drover with 
white hair and a tall stick in his hand came along. He 
had a whole drove of cows and bulls before him; they 
ran against the sack Little Claus was in, and upset 
it. 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Little Claus; “I am so young to 
be going to the Kingdom of Heaven ! 1 9 

“And I,” said the cattle drover, “am so old and 
cannot get there yet ! 1 9 

6 ‘ Open the sack ! 9 9 shouted Little Claus. * ‘ Get in in 
place of me, and you will get to heaven directly ! 9 9 

“That will just suit me,” said the cattle drover, un- 
doing the sack for Little Claus, who immediately 
sprang out. “You must look after the cattle now,” 
said the old man as he crept into the sack. Little 
Claus tied it up and walked off driving the cattle before 
him. 

A little while after Great Claus came out of the 
church, he took the sack again on his back, and cer- 
tainly thought it had grown lighter, for the old cattle 
drover was not more than half the weight of Little 
Claus. “How light he seems to have got; that must 
be because I have been to church and said my pray- 
ers ! 9 9 Then he went on to the river, which was both 
wide and deep, and threw the sack with the old cattle 
drover in it into the water, shouting as he did so (for 
he thought it was Little Claus), “Now, you won’t cheat 
me again!” Then he went homewards, but when he 
286 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


reached the cross roads he met Little Claus with his 
herd of cattle. 

“ What’s the meaning of this!” exclaimed Great 
Claus ; ‘ ‘ didn ’t I drown you ? ’ ’ 

“Yes,” said Little Claus, “it’s just about half an 
hour since you threw me into the river!” 

“But wdiere did you get all those splendid beasts?” 
asked Great Claus. 

“They are sea-cattle,” said Little Claus. “I will 
tell you the whole story, and indeed I thank you heart- 
ily for drowning me, I’m at the top of the tree now 
and a very rich man, I can tell you. I was so fright- 
ened when I was in the sack, the wind whistled in my 
ears when you threw me over the bridge into the cold 
water. I immediately sank to the bottom, but I was 
not hurt, for the grass is beautifully soft down there. 
The sack was opened at once by a beautiful maiden in 
snow-white clothes with a green wreath on her wet 
hair; she took my hand and said, ‘Are you there, Little 
Claus? Here are some cattle for you, and a mile 
further up the road you will come upon another herd, 
which I will give you too ! ’ Then I saw that the river 
was a great highway for the sea-folk. Down at the 
bottom of it they walked and drove about, from the 
sea right up to the end of the river. The flowers were 
lovely and the grass was so fresh; the fishes which 
swam about glided close to me just like birds in the 
air. How nice the people were, and what a lot of 
cattle strolling about in the ditches.” 

“But why did you come straight up here again 

287 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


then?” asked Great Claus. “I shouldn’t have done 
that, if it was so fine down there.” 

“Oh,” said Little Claus, “that’s just my cunning; 
you remember I told you that the mermaid said that 
a mile further up the road — and by the road she means 
the river, for she can’t go anywhere else — I should 
find another herd of cattle waiting for me. Well, I 
know how many bends there are in the river and what 
a roundabout way it would be. It’s ever so much 
shorter if you can come up on dry land and take the 
short cuts, you save a couple of miles by it, and get the 
cattle much sooner.” 

“Oh, you are a fortunate man!” said Great Claus; 
“do you think I should get some sea-cattle if I were to 
go down to the bottom of the river ? ’ ’ 

“I’m sure you would,” said Little Claus; “but I 
can’t carry you in the sack to the river, you’re too 
heavy for me. If you like to walk there and then get 
into the sack, I’ll throw you into the river with the 
greatest pleasure in the world. ’ ’ 

“Thank you,” said Great Claus; “but if I don’t get 
any sea-cattle when I get down there, see if I don’t 
give you a sound thrashing.” 

“Oh! don’t be so hard on me.” Then they walked 
off to the river. As soon as the cattle saw the water 
they rushed down to drink, for they were very thirsty. 
“See what a hurry they’re in,” said Little Claus; 
“they want to get down to the bottom again.” 

“Now, help me first,” said Great Claus, “or else I’ll 
thrash you.” He then crept into a big sack which had 
288 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


been lying across the back of one of the cows. “Put 
a big stone in, or I’m afraid I shan’t sink,” said Great 
Claus. 

“Oh, that’ll be all right,” said Little Claus, but he 
put a big stone into the sack and gave it a push. 
Plump went the sack and Great Claus was in the river 
where he sank to the bottom at once. 

“I’m afraid he won’t find any cattle,” said Little 
Claus, as he drove his herd home. 


289 


ELDER-TREE MOTHER 


T HERE was once a little boy who had taken cold 
by going out and getting his feet wet. No one 
could think how he managed to do so, for the weather 
was quite dry. His mother undressed him and put him 
to bed, and then she brought in the teapot to make him 
a good cup of elder-tea, which is so warming. At the 
same time, the friendly old man, who lived all alone 
at the top of the house, came in at the door. He had 
neither wife nor child, but he was very fond of chil- 
dren, and knew so many fairy tales and stories that it 
was a pleasure to hear him talk. “Now, if you drink 
your tea,” said the mother, “very likely you will have 
a story in the mean time. * y 
“Yes, if I could think of a new one to tell,” said the 
old man. “But how did the little fellow get his feet 
wet?” asked he. 

“Ah,” said the mother, “that is what we cannot find 
out.” 

“Will you tell me a story?” asked the little boy. 
“Yes, if you can tell me exactly how deep the gutter 
is in the little street through which you go to school.” 

“Just halfway up to my knee,” said the boy, “that 
is, if I stand in the deepest part.” 

“It is easy to see how we got our feet wet,” said the 

290 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


old man. “ Well, now I suppose I ought to tell a story, 
but I don’t know any more.” 

“You can make up one, I know,” said the boy. 
“Mother says that you can turn everything you look 
at into a story, and everything, even, that you touch . 7 7 

“Ah, but those sorts of tales and stories are worth 
nothing. The real ones come of themselves ; they 
knock at my forehead, and say, ‘Here we are ! 7 77 

“Won’t there be a knock soon?” said the boy. And 
his mother laughed, while she put elder-flowers in the 
teapot, and poured boiling water over them. ‘ ‘ Oh, do 
tell me a story . 7 7 

“Yes, if a story comes of itself ; but tales and stories 
are very grand — they only come when it pleases them. 
Stop,” he cried all at once, “here we have it; look! 
there is a story in the teapot now.” 

The little boy looked at the teapot, and saw the lid 
raise itself gradually, and long branches sprouted out, 
even from the spout, in all directions, till they became 
larger and larger, and there appeared a large elder- 
tree, covered with flowers white and fresh. It spread 
itself even to the bed, and pushed the curtains aside, 
and oh, how fragrant the blossoms smelt! In the 
midst of the tree sat a pleasant-looking old woman, in 
a very strange dress. The dress was green, like the 
leaves of the elder-tree, and was decorated with large 
white elder-blossoms. It was not easy to tell whether 
the border was made of some kind of stuff, or of real 
flowers. 

“What is that woman’s name?” asked the boy. 

291 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“The Romans and Greeks called her a dryad,” said 
the old man, ‘ ‘ but we do not understand that name ; we 
have a better one for her in the quarter of the town 
where the sailors live. They call her Elder-flower 
mother, and you must pay attention to her now, and 
listen while you look at the beautiful tree. 

“Just such a large blooming tree as this stands out- 
side in the corner of a poor little yard ; and under this 
tree, one bright sunny afternoon, sat two old people — 
a sailor and his wife. They had great-grandchildren, 
and would soon celebrate the golden wedding, which 
is the fiftieth anniversary of the wedding-day, as I sup- 
pose you know, and the Elder-mother sat in the tree 
and looked as pleased as she does now. 4 1 know when 
the golden wedding is to be,’ said she ; but they did not 
hear her, they were talking of olden times. ‘Do you 
remember , 1 said the old sailor, ‘when we were quite 
little, and used to run about and play in the very same 
yard where we are now sitting, and how we planted 
little twigs in one corner, and made a garden V ‘Yes/ 
said the old woman, ‘I remember it quite well, and how 
we watered the twigs, and one of them was a sprig 
of elder that took root, and put forth green shoots, 
until it became in time the great tree under which we 
old people are now seated . ’ ‘To be sure/ he replied; 
‘and in that corner yonder stands the water-butt in 
which I used to swim my boat that I had cut out all 
myself, and it sailed well, too; but since then I have 
learnt a very different kind of sailing.’ ‘Yes, but be- 
fore that, we went to school/ said she, ‘and then we 
292 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


were prepared for confirmation, — how we both cried 
on that day! but in the afternoon, we went, hand in 
hand, up to the round tower, and saw the view over 
Copenhagen, and across the water; then we went to 
Fredericksburg, where the king and queen were sailing 
in their beautiful boat on the river.’ ‘But I had to 
sail on a very different voyage elsewhere, and be away 
from home for years on long voyages,’ said the old 
sailor. ‘Ah, yes, and I used to cry about you,’ said she, 
‘for I thought you must be dead, and lying drowned at 
the bottom of the sea, with the waves sweeping over 
you. And many a time have I got up in the night to 
see if the weathercock had turned; it turned often 
enough, but you came not. How well I remember one 
day! the rain was pouring down from the skies, and 
the man came to the house where I was in service, 
to fetch away the dust. I went down to him with the 
dust-box, and stood for a moment at the door, — what 
shocking weather it was! — and while I stood there, 
the postman came up and brought me a letter from you. 
How that letter had traveled about! I tore it open 
and read it. I laughed and wept at the same time, I 
was so happy. It said that you were in warm coun- 
tries, where the coffee berries grew, and what a beauti- 
ful country it was, and described many other wonder- 
ful things ; and so I stood reading by the dust-bin, with 
the rain pouring down, when, all at once, somebody 
came, and clasped me round the waist.’ ‘Yes ; and you 
gave me such a box on the ears, that they tingled,’ 
said the old man. ‘I did not know that it was you,’ 
293 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


she replied, ‘but you had arrived as quickly as your 
letter, and you looked so handsome, and, indeed, so 
you are still. You had a large yellow silk handker- 
chief in your pocket, and a shiny hat on your head. 
You looked quite fine. And, all the time, what weather 
it was ! and how dismal the street looked !’ ‘And then 
do you remember,’ said he, ‘when we were married, 
and our first boy came, and then Marie, and Niels, and 
Peter, and Hans Christian!’ ‘Indeed, I do,’ she re- 
plied ; ‘ and they are all grown up respectable men and 
women, whom every one likes.’ ‘And now their chil- 
dren have little ones,’ said the old sailor. ‘There are 
great-grandchildren for us, strong and healthy too.’ 
‘Was it not about this time of the year that we were 
married!’ ‘Yes; and to-day is the golden wedding- 
day,’ said Elder-tree mother, popping her head out 
just between the two old people; and they thought it 
was a neighbor nodding to them. Then they looked at 
each other, and clasped their hands together. Pres- 
ently came their children and grandchildren, who knew 
very well that it was the golden wedding-day. They 
had already wished them joy on that very morning; 
but the old people had forgotten it, although they re- 
membered so well all that had happened many years 
before. And the elder-tree smelt sweetly, and the 
setting sun shone upon the faces of the old people, till 
they looked quite ruddy; and the youngest of their 
grandchildren danced round them joyfully, and said 
they were going to have a feast in the evening, and 
there were to be hot potatoes. Then the Elder-mother 
294 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


nodded in the tree, and cried, ‘Hurrah,’ with all the 
rest.” 

“But that is not a story,” said the little boy, who 
had been listening. 

“Not till you understand it,” said the old man; “but 
let us ask the Elder-mother to explain it. ’ 3 

“It was not exactly a story,” said the Elder-mother; 
“but the story is coming now, and it is a true one. 
For out of truth grow the most wonderful stories, just 
as my beautiful elder-bush has sprung out of the tea- 
pot.” And then she took the little boy out of bed, and 
laid him on her bosom; and the blooming branches of 
elder closed over them, so that they sat as it were in 
a leafy bower ; and the bower flew with them through 
the air in the most delightful manner. 

Then the Elder-mother all at once changed to a 
beautiful young maiden; but her dress was still of the 
same green stuff, ornamented with a border of white 
elder-blossoms, such as the Elder-mother had worn. 
In her bosom she wore a real elder-flower, and a wreath 
of the same was entwined in her golden ringlets. Her 
large blue eyes were very beautiful to look at. She 
was the same age as the boy; and they kissed each 
other, and felt very happy. They left the arbor to- 
gether, hand in hand, and found themselves in a beau- 
tiful flower-garden, which belonged to their home. 
On the green lawn their father’s stick was tied up. 
There was life in this stick for the little ones ; for no 
sooner did they place themselves upon it than the white 
knob changed into a pretty neighing head, with a black 
295 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


flowing mane, and four long slim legs sprung forth. 
The creature was strong and spirited, and galloped 
with them round the grass-plot. “Hurrah! now we 
will ride many miles away,” said the boy; “well ride 
to the nobleman’s estate, where we went last year.” 
Then they rode round the grass-plot again; and the 
little maiden, who, we know, was Elder-tree mother, 
kept crying out, “Now we are in the country. Do you 
see the farmhouse, with a great baking-oven, which 
sticks out from the wall by the roadside like a gigantic 
egg? There is an elder spreading its branches over 
it, and a cock is marching about, and scratching for the 
chickens. See how he struts! Now we are near the 
church. There it stands on the hill, shaded by the 
great oak-trees, one of which is half dead. See, here 
we are at the blacksmith’s forge. How the fire burns ! 
And the half-clad men are striking the hot iron with 
the hammer, so that the sparks fly about. Now then, 
away to the nobleman’s beautiful estate.” And the 
boy saw all that the little girl spoke of as she sat 
behind him on the stick ; for it passed before him, al- 
though they were only galloping round the grass-plot. 

Then they played together in a side-walk, and raked 
up the earth, to make a little garden. She took elder- 
flowers out of her hair, and planted them; and they 
grew just like those which he had heard the old people 
talking about, and which they had planted in their 
young days. They walked about hand in hand, too, 
just as the old people had done when they were chil- 
dren ; but they did not go up the round tower, nor to 
296 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


Fredericksburg garden. No ; but the little girl seized 
the boy round the waist, and they rode all over the 
whole country, — sometimes it was spring, then sum- 
mer, then autumn, and winter followed, — while thou- 
sands of images were presented to the boy’s eyes and 
heart, and the little girl constantly sung to him, “You 
must never forget all this.” And, through their whole 
flight, the elder-tree sent forth the sweetest fragrance. 

They passed roses and fresh beech-trees, but the per- 
fume of the elder-tree was stronger than all, for its 
flowers hung round the little maiden’s heart, against 
which the boy so often leaned his head during their 
flight. 

“It is beautiful here in the spring,” said the maiden, 
as they stood in a grove of beech-trees covered with 
fresh green leaves, while at their feet the sweet- 
scented thyme and blushing anemone lay spread amid 
the green grass in delicate bloom. “Oh, that it were 
always spring in the fragrant beech-groves!” 

“Here it is delightful in summer,” said the maiden, 
as they passed old knights’ castles, telling of days gone 
by, and saw the high walls and pointed gables mir- 
rored in the rivers beneath, where swans were sailing 
about and peeping into the cool green avenues. In the 
fields the corn waved to and fro like the sea. Red and 
yellow flowers grew amongst the ruins, and the hedges 
were covered with wild hops and blooming convolvulus. 
In the evening the moon rose round and full, and the 
hay-stacks in the meadows filled the air with their sweet 
scent. These were scenes never to be forgotten. “It 
297 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


is lovely here also in autumn,’ ’ said the little maiden; 
and then the scene changed. The sky appeared higher 
and more beautifully blue, while the forest glowed with 
colors of red, green, and gold. The hounds were off 
to the chase, large flocks of wild birds flew screaming 
over the Huns’ graves, where the blackberry bushes 
twined round the old ruins. The dark blue sea was 
dotted with white sails, and in the barns sat old women, 
maidens, and children, picking hops into a large tub*. 
The young ones sang songs, and the old ones told Fairy 
tales of wizards and witches. There could be nothing 
more pleasant than all this. “ Again,” said the 
maiden, “it is beautiful here in winter.” Then in a 
moment all the trees were covered with hoar-frost, so 
that they looked like white coral. The snow crackled 
beneath the feet as if every one had on new boots, and 
one shooting star after another fell from the sky. In 
warm rooms there could be seen the Christmas trees 
decked out with presents, and lighted up amid festivi- 
ties and joy. In the country farmhouses, could be 
heard the sound of the violin, and there were games 
for apples, so that even the poorest child could say, 
“It is beautiful in winter.” 

And beautiful indeed were all the scenes which the 
maiden showed to the little boy, and always around 
them floated the fragrance of the elder-blossom, and 
ever above them waved the red flag with the white cross 
under which the old seaman had sailed. The boy who 
had become a youth, and who had gone as a sailor out 
into the wide world, and sailed to warm countries where 
298 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the coffee grew, and to whom the little girl had given 
an elder-blossom from her bosom for a keepsake, when 
she took leave of him, placed the flower in his hymn- 
book, and when he opened it in foreign lands, he al- 
ways turned to the spot where this flower of remem- 
brance lay, and the more he looked at it, the fresher it 
appeared. He could, as it were, breathe the home-like 
fragrance of the woods, and see the little girl looking 
at him from between the petals of the flower with her 
clear blue eyes, and hear her whispering, “It is beauti- 
ful here at home in spring, and summer, in autumn, 
and in winter,’ ’ while hundreds of these home scenes 
passed through his memory. Many years had passed, 
and he was now an old man seated with his old wife 
under an elder-tree in full blossom. They were hold- 
ing each other’s hands just as the great-grandfather 
and grandmother had done, and spoke, as they did, 
of olden times and of the golden wedding. The little 
maiden with the blue eyes and the elder-blossoms in 
her hair sat in the tree and nodded to them and said, 
“To-day is the golden wedding.” And then she took 
two flowers out of her wreath and kissed them, and 
they shone first like silver and then like gold; and as 
she placed them on the heads of the old people each 
flower became a golden crown. And there they sat 
like a king and queen under the sweetly scented tree, 
which still looked like an elder-bush. Then he related 
to his old wife the story of the Elder-tree mother, just 
as he had heard it told when he was a little boy, 
and they both fancied it very much like their own 
299 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


story, especially in some parts which they liked the best. 

“Well, and so it is,” said the little maiden in the 
tree. “Some call me Elder-mother, others a dryad, 
hut my real name is ‘ Memory. ’ It is I who sit in the 
tree as it grows and grows, and I can think of the past 
and relate many things. Let me see if you have still 
preserved the flower.” 

Then the old man opened his hymn-book, and there 
lay the elder-flower as fresh as if it had only just been 
placed there, and “Memory” nodded, and the two old 
people with the golden crowns on their heads sat in the 
red glow of the evening sunlight, and closed their eyes, 
and — and — the story was ended. 

The little hoy lay in his bed and did not quite know 
whether he had been dreaming or listening to a story. 
The teapot stood on the table, but no elder-bush grew 
out of it, and the old man who had really told the tale 
was on the threshold, and just going out at the door. 

“How beautiful it was!” said the little boy. 
“Mother, I have been to warm countries.” 

“I can quite believe it,” said his mother. “When 
any one drinks two full cups of elder-flower tea, he may 
well get into warm countries;” and then she covered 
him up that he should not take cold. “You have slept 
well while I have been disputing with the old man as 
to whether it was a real story or a fairy legend.” 

“And where is the Elder-tree mother?” asked the 
boy. 

“She is in the teapot,” said the mother, “and there 
she may stay.” 


300 


THE NIGHTINGALE 

T N China, as you know, the Emperor is a Chinaman, 
* and all the people around him are Chinamen too. 
It is many years since the story I am going to tell you 
happened, but that is all the more reason for telling 
it, lest it should be forgotten. The emperor’s palace 
was the most beautiful thing in the world ; it was made 
entirely of the finest porcelain, very costly, but at the 
same time so fragile that it could only be touched with 
the very greatest care. There were the most extraor- 
dinary flowers to be seen in the garden; the most 
beautiful ones had little silver bells tied to them, which 
tinkled perpetually, so that one should not pass the 
flowers without looking at them. Every little detail in 
the garden had been most carefully thought out, and 
it was so big, that even the gardener himself did not 
know where it ended. If one went on walking, one 
came to beautiful woods with lofty trees and deep 
lakes. The wood extended to the sea, which was deep 
and blue, deep enough for large ships to sail up right 
under the branches of the trees. Among these trees 
lived a nightingale, which sang so. deliciously, that even 
the poor fisherman who had plenty of other things to 
do, lay still to listen to it, when he was out at night 
drawing in his nets. 4 ‘Heavens, how beautiful it is!” 
he said, but then he had to attend to his business and 
301 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


forgot it. The next night when he heard it again he 
would again exclaim, “ Heavens, how beautiful it is!” 

Travelers came to the emperor’s capital, from every 
country in the world; they admired everything very 
much, especially the palace and the gardens, but when 
they heard the nightingale they all said, ‘ ‘ This is bet- 
ter than anything ! ’ ’ 

When they got home they described it, and learned 
ones wrote many books about the town, the palace, and 
the garden, but nobody forgot the nightingale, it was 
always put above everything else. Those among them 
who were poets wrote the most beautiful poems, all 
about the nightingale in the woods by the deep blue 
sea. These books went all over the world, and in 
course of time some of them reached the emperor. He 
sat in his golden chair reading and reading, and nod- 
ding his head, well pleased to hear such beautiful de- 
scriptions of the town, the palace, and the garden. 
“But the nightingale is the best of all,” he read. 

“What is this?” said the emperor. “The night- 
ingale? Why I know nothing about it. Is there such 
a bird in my kingdom, and in my own garden into the 
bargain, and I have never heard of it? Imagine my 
having to discover this from a book?” 

Then he called his gentleman-in-waiting, who was 
so grand that when any one of a lower rank dared to 
speak to him, or to ask him a question, he only would 
answer “P,” which means nothing at all. 

“There is said to be a very wonderful bird called a 
nightingale here,” said the emperor. “They say that 
302 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

it is better than anything else in all my great king- 
dom ! Why have I never been told anything about it ? ” 

“I have never heard it mentioned,’ ’ said the gentle- 
man-in-waiting. “It has never been presented at 
court. ’ * 

“I wish it to appear here this evening to sing to 
me,” said the emperor. “The whole world knows 
what I am possessed of, and I know nothing about it!” 

“I have never heard it mentioned before,” said the 
gentleman-in-waiting. “I will seek it, and I will find 
it!” But where was it to be found? The gentleman- 
in-waiting ran upstairs and downstairs and in and out 
of all the rooms and corridors. No one of all those he 
met had ever heard anything about the nightingale ; so 
the gentleman-in- waiting ran back to the emperor, and 
said that it must be a myth, invented by the writers 
of the books. “Your imperial majesty must not be- 
lieve everything that is written; books are often mere 
inventions, even if they do not belong to what we call 
the black art!” 

“But the book in which I read it is sent to me by the 
powerful Emperor of Japan, so it can’t be untrue, I 
will hear this nightingale, I insist upon its being here 
to-night. I extend my most gracious protection to it, 
and if it is not forthcoming, I will have the whole 
court trampled upon after supper!” 

“Tsing-pe!” said the gentleman-in-waiting, and 
away he ran again, up and down all the stairs, in and 
out of all the rooms and corridors ; half the court ran 
with him, for they none of them wished to be trampled 
303 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


on. There was much questioning about this nightin- 
gale, which was known to all the outside world, but 
to no one at court. At last they found a poor little 
maid in the kitchen. She said, “Oh, heavens, the 
nightingale? I know it very well. Yes, indeed it can 
sing. Every evening I am allowed to take broken 
meat to my poor sick mother; she lives down by the 
shore. On my way back when I am tired, I rest awhile 
in the wood, and then I hear the nightingale. Its song 
brings the tears into my eyes; I feel as if my mother 
were kissing me!” 

“Little kitchen-maid, ’ ’ said the gentleman-in-wait- 
ing, “I will procure you a permanent position in the 
kitchen and permission to see the emperor dining, if 
you will take us to the nightingale. It is commanded 
to appear at court to-night.’ ’ 

Then they all went out into the wood where the 
nightingale usually sang. Half the court was there. 
As they were going along at their best pace a cow 
began to bellow. 

“0!” said a young courtier, “there we have it. 
What wonderful power for such a little creature; I 
have certainly heard it before.” 

“No, those are the cows bellowing; we are a long 
way yet from the place.” Then the frogs began to 
croak in the marsh. 

“Beautiful?” said the Chinese chaplain; “it is just 
like the tinkling of church bells.” 

“No, those are the frogs!” said the little kitchen- 
maid. “But I think we shall soon hear it now!” 

304 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

Then the nightingale began to sing. 

“ There it is!” said the little girl. “Listen, listen, 
there it sits!” and she pointed to a little gray bird up 
among the branches. 

“ Is it possible ? , ’ said the gentleman-in-waiting. ‘ ‘ I 
should never have thought it was like that. How com- 
mon it looks. Seeing so many grand people must have 
frightened all its colors away.” 

“Little nightingale!” called the kitchen-maid quite 
loud, “our gracious emperor wishes you to sing to 
him ! ’ ’ 

“With the greatest pleasure!” said the nightingale, 
warbling away in the most delightful fashion. 

“It is just like crystal bells,” said the gentleman-in- 
waiting. “Look at its little throat, how active it is. 
It is extraordinary that we have never heard it before ! 
I am sure it will be a great success at court!” 

“Shall I sing again to the emperor?” said the night- 
ingale, who thought he was present. 

“My precious little nightingale,” said the gentle- 
man-in-waiting, “I have the honor to command your 
attendance at a court festival to-night, where you will 
charm his gracious majesty the emperor with your 
fascinating singing.” 

“It sounds best among the trees,” said the nightin- 
gale, but it went with them willingly when it heard 
that the emperor wished it. 

The palace had been brightened up for the occasion. 
The walls and the floors which were all of china shone 
by the light of many thousand golden lamps. The 
305 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


most beautiful flowers, all of the tinkling kind, were 
arranged in the corridors ; there was hurrying to and 
fro, and a great draught, but this was just what made 
the bells ring; one’s ears were full of the tinkling. In 
the middle of the large reception-room where the em- 
peror sat, a golden rod had been fixed, on which the 
nightingale was to perch. The whole court was assem- 
bled, and the little kitchen-maid had been permitted to 
stand behind the door, as she now had the actual title 
of cook. They were all dressed in their best; every- 
body’s eyes were turned towards the little gray bird 
at which the emperor was nodding. The nightingale 
sang delightfully, and the tears came into the em- 
peror’s eyes; nay, they rolled down his cheeks, and 
then the nightingale sang more beautifully than ever ; 
its notes touched all hearts. The emperor was 
charmed, and said the nightingale should have his gold 
slipper to wear round its neck. But the nightingale 
declined with thanks; it had already been sufficiently 
rewarded. 

“I have seen tears in the eyes of the emperor; that 
is my richest reward. The tears of an emperor have 
a wonderful power ! God knows I am sufficiently rec- 
ompensed!” and then it again burst into its sweet 
heavenly song. 

“That is the most delightful coquetting I have ever 
seen ! ’ ’ said the ladies, and they took some water into 
their mouths to try and make the same gurgling, when 
any one spoke to them, thinking so to equal the night- 
ingale. Even the lackeys and the chambermaids an- 

306 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


nounced that they were satisfied, and that is saying a 
great deal ; they are always the most difficult people to 
please. Yes, indeed, the nightingale had made a sen- 
sation. It was to stay at court now, and to have its 
own cage, as well as liberty to walk out twice a day, 
and once in the night. It always had twelve footmen 
with each one holding a ribbon which was tied round 
its leg. There was not much pleasure in an outing of 
that sort. 

The whole town talked about the marvelous bird, 
and if two people met, one said to the other “ Night,’ ’ 
and the other answered “Gale,” and then they sighed, 
perfectly understanding each other. Eleven cheese- 
mongers ’ children were called after it, hut they had not 
got a voice among them. 

One day a large parcel came for the emperor; out- 
side was written the word “Nightingale.” 

“Here we have another new book about this cele- 
brated bird,” said the emperor. But it was no book; 
it was a little work of art in a box, an artificial night- 
ingale, exactly like the living one, but it was studded 
all over with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. 

When the bird was wound up, it could sing one of 
the songs the real one sang, and it wagged its tail 
which glittered with silver and gold. A ribbon was 
tied round its neck on which was written, “The Em- 
peror of Japan's nightingale is very poor compared 
to the Emperor of China’s.” 

Everybody said, “Oh, how beautiful!” And the 
person who brought the artificial bird immediately re- 

307 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


ceived the title of Imperial Nightingale-Carrier-in- 
Chief. 

“Now, they must sing together; what a duet that 
will be!” 

Then they had to sing together, but they did not get 
on very well, for the real nightingale sang in its own 
way, and the artificial one could only sing waltzes. 

“There is no fault in that,” said the music master; 
“it is perfectly in time and correct in every way!” 

Then the artificial bird had to sing alone. It was 
just as great a success as the real one, and then it was 
so much prettier to look at, it glittered like bracelets 
and breast-pins. 

It sang the same tune three and thirty times over, 
and yet it was not tired; people would willingly have 
heard it from the beginning again, but the Emperor 
said that the real one must have a turn now — but where 
was it? No one had noticed that it had flown out of 
the open window, back to its own green woods. 

“But what is the meaning of this?” said the em- 
peror. 

All the courtiers railed at it, and said it was a most 
ungrateful bird. 

“We have got the best bird though,” said they, and 
then the artificial bird had to sing again, and this was 
the thirty-fourth time that they heard the same tune, 
but they did not know it thoroughly even yet, because 
it was so difficult. 

The music master praised the bird tremendously, 
and insisted that it was much better than the real 
308 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


nightingale, not only as regarded the outside with all 
the diamonds, but the inside too. 

“ Because you see, my ladies and gentlemen, and the 
emperor before all, in the real nightingale you never 
know what you will hear, but in the artificial one every- 
thing is decided beforehand ! So it is, and so it must 
remain, it can’t be otherwise. You can account for 
things, you can open it and show the human ingenuity 
in arranging the waltzes, how they go, and how one 
note follows upon another !” 

‘ ‘Those are exactly my opinions,” they all said, and 
the music master got leave to show the bird to the 
public next Sunday. They were also to hear it sing, 
said the emperor. So they heard it, and all became as 
enthusiastic over it as if they had drunk themselves 
merry on tea, because that is a thoroughly Chinese 
habit. 

Then they all said “Oh,” and stuck their forefingers 
in the air and nodded their heads ; but the poor fisher- 
men who had heard the real nightingale said, “It 
sounds very nice, and it is very like the real one, but 
there is something wanting, we don’t know what.” 
The real nightingale was banished from the kingdom. 

The artificial bird had its place on a silken cushion, 
close to the emperor’s bed: all the presents it had 
received of gold and precious jewels were scattered 
round it. Its title had risen to be “Chief Imperial' 
Singer of the Bed-Chamber,” in rank number one, on 
the left side; for the emperor reckoned that side the 
important one, where the heart was seated. And even 
309 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


an emperor’s heart is on the left side. The music 
master wrote five and twenty volumes about the artifi- 
cial bird ; the treatise was very long, and written in all 
the most difficult Chinese characters. Everybody said 
they had read and understood it, for otherwise they 
would have been reckoned stupid, and then their bodies 
would have been trampled upon. 

Things went on in this way for a whole year. The 
emperor, the court, and all the other Chinamen knew 
every little gurgle in the song of the artificial bird by 
heart ; but they liked it all the better for this, and they 
could all join in the song themselves. Even the street 
boys sang “zizizi” and ‘ 4 cluck, cluck, cluck,” and the 
emperor sang it too. 

But one evening when the bird was singing its best, 
and the emperor was lying in bed listening to it, some- 
thing gave way inside the bird with a “ whizz.” Then 
a spring burst, “ whirr” went all the wheels and the 
music stopped. The emperor jumped out of bed and 
sent for his private physicians, but what good could 
they do? Then they sent for the watchmaker, and 
after a good deal of talk and examination, he got the 
works to go again somehow ; but he said it would have 
to be saved as much as possible, because it was so worn 
out, and he could not renew the works so as to be sure 
of the tune. This was a great blow ! They only dared 
to let the artificial bird sing once a year, and hardly 
that; but then the music master made a little speech 
using all the most difficult words. He said it was just 
as good as ever, and his saying it made it so. 

310 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Five years now passed, and then a great grief came 
upon the nation, for they were all very fond of their 
emperor, and he was ill and could not live, it was said. 
A new emperor was already chosen, and people stood 
about in the street, and asked the gentleman-in-waiting 
how the emperor was going on. 

“P,” answered he, shaking his head. 

The emperor lay pale and cold in his gorgeous bed, 
the courtiers thought he was dead, and they all went off 
to pay their respects to their new emperor. The 
lackeys ran off to talk matters over, and the chamber- 
maids gave a great coffee party. Cloth had been laid 
down in all the rooms and corridors so as to deaden 
the sound of footsteps, so it was very, very quiet. But 
the emperor was not dead yet. He lay stiff and pale 
in the gorgeous bed with velvet hangings and heavy 
golden tassels. There was an open window high above 
him, and the moon streamed in upon the emperor, and 
the artificial bird beside him. 

The poor emperor could hardly breathe, he seemed 
to have a weight on his chest, he opened his eyes and 
then he saw that it was Death sitting upon his chest, 
wearing his golden crown. In one hand he held the 
emperor’s golden sword, and in the other his imperial 
banner. Round about, from among the folds of the 
velvet hangings peered many curious faces, some were 
hideous, others gentle and pleasant. They were all the 
emperor’s good and bad deeds, which now looked him 
in the face when Death was weighing him down. 

“Do you remember that?” whispered one after the 

311 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


other, ‘ ‘ Do yon remember this ! ’ ’ and they told him so 
many things that the perspiration poured down his 
face. 

“I never knew that,” said the emperor. “ Music, 
music, sound the great Chinese drums!” he cried, 

‘ ‘ that I may not hear what they are saying. ’ 9 But they 
went on and on, and Death sat nodding his head, just 
like a Chinaman, at everything that was said. 

“ Music, music!” shrieked the emperor. “You pre- 
cious little golden bird, sing, sing ! I have loaded you 
with precious stones, and even hung my own golden 
slipper round your neck, sing, I tell you, sing !” 

But the bird stood silent, there was nobody to wind 
it up, so of course it could not go. Death continued 
to fix the great empty sockets of its eyes upon him, 
and all was silent, so terribly silent. 

Suddenly, close to the window, there was a burst of 
lovely song; it was the living nightingale, perched on 
a branch outside. It had heard of the emperor’s need, 
and had come to bring comfort and hope to him. As 
it sang the faces round became fainter and fainter, and 
the blood coursed with fresh vigor in the emperor’s 
veins and through his feeble limbs. Even Death him- 
self listened to the song and said, “Go on, little night- 
ingale, go on!” 

“Yes, if you give me the gorgeous golden sword; 
yes, if you give me the imperial banner ; yes, if you give 
me the emperor’s crown.” 

And Death gave back each of these treasures for a 
song, and the nightingale went on singing. It sang 
312 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


about the quiet churchyard, where the roses bloom, 
where the elder flowers scent the air, and where the 
fresh grass is ever moistened anew by the tears of the 
mourner. This song brought to Death a longing for 
his own garden, and like a cold gray mist, he passed 
out of the window. 

4 ‘Thanks, thanks !” said the emperor; “you heavenly 
little bird, I know you ! I banished you from my king- 
dom, and yet you have charmed the evil visions away 
from my bed by your song, and even Death away from 
my heart ! How can I ever repay you ? ’ ’ 

“You have rewarded me,” said the nightingale. “I 
brought tears to your eyes the very first time I ever 
sang to you, and I shall never forget it! Those are 
the jewels which gladden the heart of a singer; but 
sleep now, and wake up fresh and strong; I will sing 
to you ! , ’ 

Then it sang again, and the emperor fell into a sweet 
refreshing sleep. The sun shone in at his window, 
when he woke refreshed and well; none of his attend- 
ants had yet come back to him, for they thought he 
was dead, but the nightingale still sat there singing. 

“You must always stay with me !” said the emperor. 
“You shall only sing when you like, and I will break 
the artificial bird into a thousand pieces!” 

“Don’t do that!” said the nightingale, “it did all 
the good it could ! keep it as you have always done ! I 
can’t build my nest and live in this palace, but let me 
come whenever I like, then I will sit on the branch in 
the evening, and sing to you. I will sing to cheer you 
313 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and to make you thoughtful too; I will sing to you 
of the happy ones, and of those that suffer too. I 
will sing about the good and the evil, which are kept 
hidden from you. The little singing bird flies far and 
wide, to the poor fisherman, and the peasants home, 
to numbers who are far from you and your court. I 
love your heart more than your crown, and yet there 
is an odor of sanctity round the crown too! — I will 
come, and I will sing to you ! — But you must promise 
me one thing !” — 

“ Everything!” said the emperor, who stood there 
in his imperial robes which he had just put on, and he 
held the sword heavy with gold upon his heart. 

“One thing I ask you! Tell no one that you have 
a little bird who tells you everything, it will be bet- 
ter so!” 

Then the nightingale flew away. The attendants 
came in to see after their dead emperor, and there he 
stood, bidding them “ good-morning ! ’ 9 


314 


THE OLD STREET LAMP 


TAID you ever hear the story of the old street lamp? 

' If not, you may as well listen to it. It was a 
most respectable old lamp, which had seen many, many 
years of service, and now was to retire with a pension. 
It was this evening at its post for the last time, giving 
light to the street. His feelings were something like 
those of an old dancer at the theater, who is dancing 
for the last time, and knows that on the morrow she 
will be in her garret, alone and forgotten. The lamp 
had very great anxiety about the next day, for he knew 
that he had to appear for the first time at the town- 
hall, to be inspected by the mayor and the council, who 
were to decide if he were fit for further service or not ; 
— whether the lamp was good enough to be used to light 
the inhabitants of one of the suburbs, or in the country, 
at some factory; and if not, it would be sent at once 
to an iron foundry, to be melted down. In this latter 
case it might be turned into anything, and he wondered 
very much whether he would then be able to remember 
that he had once been a street lamp, and it troubled 
him exceedingly. Whatever might happen, one thing 
seemed certain, that he would be separated from the 
watchman and his wife, whose family he looked upon 
as his own. The lamp had been first hung up on the 
very evening that the watchman, then a robust young 
315 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


man, had entered upon the duties of his office. Ah, 
well, it was a very long time since one became a lamp 
and the other a watchman. His wife had a little pride 
in those days; she seldom condescended to glance at 
the lamp, excepting when she passed by in the evening, 
never in the daytime. But in later years, when all 
these — the watchman, the wife, and the lamp — had 
grown old, she had attended to it, cleaned it, and sup- 
plied it with oil. The old people were thoroughly hon- 
est ; they had never cheated the lamp of a single drop 
of the oil provided for it. 

This was the lamp’s last night in the street, and to- 
morrow he must go to the town-hall, — two very dark 
things to think of. No wonder he did not burn 
brightly. Many other thoughts also passed through 
his mind. How many persons he had lighted on their 
way, and how much he had seen ; as much, very likely, 
as the mayor and corporation themselves! None of 
these thoughts were uttered aloud, however; for he 
was a good, honorable old lamp, who would not will- 
ingly do harm to any one, especially to those in au- 
thority- As many things were recalled to his mind, 
the light would flash up with sudden brightness; he 
had, at such moments, a conviction that he would be 
remembered. ‘ ‘ There was a handsome young man 
once,” thought he; ‘ ‘it is certainly a long time ago, but 
I remember he had a little note, written on pink paper 
with a gold edge; the writing was elegant, evidently 
a lady’s hand: twice he read it through, and kissed it, 
and then looked up at me, with eyes that said quite 
316 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

plainly, ‘I am the happiest of men!’ Only he and I 
know what was written on this his first letter from his 
lady-love. Ah, yes, and there was another pair of 
eyes that I remember, — it is really wonderful how the 
thoughts jump from one thing to another! A funeral 
passed through the street; a young and beautiful 
woman lay on a bier decked with garlands of flowers, 
and attended by torches, which quite overpowered my 
light. All along the street stood the people from the 
houses, in crowds, ready to join the procession. But 
when the torches had passed from before me, and I 
could look round, I saw one person alone, standing, 
leaning against my post, and weeping. Never shall I 
forget the sorrowful eyes that looked up at me.” 
These and similar reflections occupied the old street 
lamp, on this the last time that his light would shine. 
The sentry, when he is relieved from his post, knows 
at least who will succeed him, and may whisper a few 
words to him, but the lamp did not know his successor, 
or he could have given him a few hints respecting rain, 
or mist, and could have informed him how far the 
moon’s rays would rest on the pavement, and from 
which side the wind generally blew, and so on. 

On the bridge over the canal stood three persons, 
who wished to recommend themselves to the lamp, for 
they thought he could give the office to whomsoever he 
chose. The first was a herring’s head, which could 
emit light in the darkness. He remarked that it would 
be a great saving of oil if they placed him on the lamp- 
post. Number two was a piece of rotton wood, which 
317 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


also shines in the dark. He considered himself de- 
scended from an old stem, once the pride of the forest. 
The third was a glow-worm, and how he found his way 
there the lamp could not imagine, yet there he was, 
and could really give light as well as the others. But 
the rotten wood and the herring’s head declared most 
solemnly, by all they held sacred, that the glow-worm 
only gave light at certain times, and must not be al- 
lowed to compete with themselves. The old lamp as- 
sured them that not one of them could give sufficient 
light to fill the position of a street lamp ; but they would 
believe nothing he said. And when they discovered 
that he had not the power of naming his successor, they 
said they were very glad to hear it, for the lamp was 
too old and worn-out to make a proper choice. 

At this moment the wind came rushing round the cor- 
ner of the street, and through the air-holes of the old 
lamp. “What is this I hear?” said he; “that you are 
going away to-morrow? Is this evening the last time 
we shall meet? Then I must present you with a fare- 
well gift. I will blow into your brain, so that in future 
you shall not only be able to remember all that you 
have seen or heard in the past, but your light within 
shall be so bright, that you shall be able to understand 
all that is said or done in your presence.” 

“Oh, that is really a very, very great gift,” said the 
old lamp; “I thank you most heartily. I only hope I 
shall not be melted down.” 

“That is not likely to happen yet,” said the wind; 
“and I will also blow a memory into you, so that should 
318 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

you receive other similar presents your old age will 
pass very pleasantly. ’ ’ 

“That is if I am not melted down,” said the lamp. 
“But should I in that case still retain my memory?” 

“Do be reasonable, old lamp,” said the wind, puffing 
away. 

At this moment the moon burst forth from the 
clouds. 6 i What will you give the old lamp ? ’ ’ asked the 
wind. 

“I can give nothing,” she replied; “I am on the 
wane, and no lamps have ever given me light, while I 
have frequently shone upon them.” And with these 
words the moon hid herself again behind the clouds, 
that she might be saved from further importunities. 
Just then a drop fell upon the lamp, from the roof of 
the house, but the drop explained that he was a gift 
from those gray clouds, and perhaps the best of all 
gifts. “ I shall penetrate you so thoroughly,” he said, 
“that you will have the power of becoming rusty, and, 
if you wish it, to crumble into dust in one night. ’ ’ 

But this seemed to the lamp a very shabby present, 
and the wind thought so, too. “Does no one give any 
more? Will no one give any more?” shouted the 
breath of the wind, as loud as it could. Then a bright 
falling star came down, leaving a broad, luminous 
streak behind it. 

“What was that?” cried the herring’s head. “Did 
not a star fall? I really believe it went into the lamp. 
Certainly, when such high-born personages try for the 
office, we may as well say ‘ Good-night,’ and go home,” 

319 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


And so they did, all three, while the old lamp threw a 
wonderfully strong light all around him. 

“This is a glorious gift,” said he; “the bright stars 
have always been a joy to me, and have always shone 
more brilliantly than I ever could shine, though I have 
tried with my whole might ; and now they have noticed 
me, a poor old lamp, and have sent me a gift that will 
enable me to see clearly everything that I remember, 
as if it still stood before me, and to be seen by all those 
who love me. And herein lies the truest pleasure, for 
joy which we cannot share with others is only half 
enjoyed.” 

“That sentiment does you honor,” said the wind; 
“but for this purpose wax lights will be necessary. If 
these are not lighted in you, your peculiar faculties will 
not benefit others in the least. The stars have not 
thought of this ; they suppose that you and every other 
light must be a wax taper : but I must go down now. ’ ’ 
So he laid himself to rest. 

“Wax tapers, indeed!” said the lamp; “I have 
never yet had these, nor is it likely I ever shall. If I 
could only be sure of not being melted down!” 

The next day. Well, perhaps we had better pass 
over the next day. The evening had come, and the 
lamp was resting in a grandfather’s chair, and guess 
where! Why, at the old watchman’s house. He had 
begged, as a favor, that the mayor and corporation 
would allow him to keep the street lamp, in considera- 
tion of his long and faithful service, as he had himself 
hung it up and lit it on the day he commenced his 
320 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


duties, four-and-twenty years ago. He looked upon it 
almost as kis own child ; he had no children, so the lamp 
was given to him. There it lay in the great arm-chair 
near to the warm stove. It seemed almost as if it had 
grown larger, for it appeared quite to fill the chair. 
The old people sat at their supper, casting friendly 
glances at the old lamp, whom they would willingly 
have admitted to a place at the table. It is quite true 
that they dwelt in a cellar, two yards deep in the earth, 
and they had to cross a stone passage to get to their 
room, but within it was warm and comfortable, and 
strips of list had been nailed round the door. The bed 
and the little window had curtains, and everything 
looked clean and neat. On the window seat stood two 
curious flower-pots which a sailor, named Christian, 
had brought over from the East or West Indies. They 
were of clay, and in the form of two elephants, with 
open backs ; they were hollow and filled with earth, and 
through the open space flowers bloomed. In one grew 
some very fine chives or leeks; this was the kitchen 
garden. The other elephant, which contained a beau- 
tiful geranium, they called their flower garden. On the 
wall hung a large colored print, representing the con- 
gress of Vienna, and all the kings and emperors at 
once. A clock, with heavy weights, hung on the wall, 
and went “tick, tick,” steadily enough; yet it was al- 
ways rather too fast, which, however, the old people 
said was better than being too slow. They were now 
eating their supper, while the old street lamp, as we 
have heard, lay in the grandfather’s arm-chair near 
321 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the stove. It seemed to the lamp as if the whole world 
had turned round ; but after a while the old watchman 
looked at the lamp, and spoke of what they had both 
gone through together, — in rain and in fog ; during the 
short bright nights of summer, or in the long winter 
nights; through the drifting snow-storms, when he 
longed to be at home in the cellar. Then the lamp felt 
it was all right again. He saw everything that had 
happened quite clearly, as if it were passing before him. 
Surely the wind had given him an excellent gift. The 
old people were very active and industrious ; they were 
never idle for even a single hour. On Sunday after- 
noons they would bring out some books, generally a 
book of travels which they were very fond of. The old 
man would read aloud about Africa, with its great for- 
ests and the wild elephants, while his wife would listen 
attentively, stealing a glance now and then at the clay 
elephants, which served as flower-pots. 

, “I can almost imagine I am seeing it all,” she said; 
and then how the lamp wished for a wax taper to be 
lighted in him, for then the old woman would have seen 
the smallest detail as clearly as he did himself. The 
lofty trees, with their thickly entwined branches, the 
naked negroes on horseback, and whole herds of ele- 
phants treading down bamboo thickets with their 
broad, heavy feet. 

“What is the use of all my capabilities,” sighed the 
old lamp, “when I cannot obtain any wax lights? 
They have only oil and tallow here, and these will not 
do.” One day a great heap of wax-candle ends found 
322 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


their way into the cellar. The larger pieces were 
burnt, and the smaller ones the old woman kept for 
waxing her thread. So there were now candles 
enough, but it never occurred to any one to put a little 
piece in the lamp. 

“Here I am now with my rare powers,’ ’ thought the 
lamp. “I have faculties within me, but I cannot share 
them ; they do not know that I could cover these white 
walls with beautiful tapestry, or change them into 
noble forests, or, indeed, to anything else they might 
wish for.” The lamp, however, was always kept clean 
and shining in a corner where it attracted all eyes. 
Strangers looked upon it as lumber, but the old people 
did not care for that; they loved the lamp. One day 
— it was the watchman’s birthday — the old woman 
approached the lamp, smiling to herself, and said, “I 
will have an illumination to-day in honor of my old 
man.” And the lamp rattled in his metal frame, for 
he thought, “Now at last I shall have a light within 
me,” but after all no wax light was placed in the lamp, 
but oil as usual. The lamp burned through the whole 
evening, and began to perceive too clearly that the gift 
of the stars would remain a hidden treasure all his life. 
Then he had a dream; for, to one with his faculties, 
dreaming was no difficulty. It appeared to him that 
the old people were dead, and that he had been taken 
to the iron foundry to be melted down. It caused him 
quite as much anxiety as on the day when he had been 
called upon to appear before the mayor and the council 
at the town-hall. But though he had been endowed 
323 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


with the power of falling into decay from rust when he 
pleased, he did not make use of it. He was therefore 
put into the melting-furnace, and changed into as ele- 
gant an iron candlestick as you could wish to see, one 
intended to hold a wax taper. The candlestick was in 
the form of an angel, holding a nosegay, in the center of 
which the wax taper was to be placed. It was to stand 
on a green writing-table, in a very pleasant room ; many 
books were scattered about, and splendid paintings 
hung on the walls. The owner of the room was a poet, 
and a man of intellect ; everything he thought or wrote 
was pictured around him. Nature showed herself to 
him sometimes in the dark forests, at others in cheerful 
meadows where the storks were strutting about, or on 
the deck of a ship sailing across the foaming sea with 
the clear, blue sky above, or, at night, the glittering 
stars. “What powers I possess !” said the lamp, 
awaking from his dream: “I could almost wish to be 
melted down; but no, that must not be while the old 
people live. They love me for myself alone ; they keep 
me bright, and supply me with oil. I am as well off as 
the picture of the congress, in which they take so much 
pleasure.’ ’ And from that time he felt at rest in him- 
self, and not more so than such an honorable old lamp 
really deserved to be. 


324 


THE MERMAID 


T^AR out at sea the water is as blue as the bluest 
*“■ cornflower, and as clear as the clearest crystal; 
but it is very deep, too deep for any cable to fathom, 
and if many steeples were piled on the top of one an- 
other they would not reach from the bed of the sea to 
the surface of the water. It is down there that the 
Mermen live. 

Now don’t imagine that there are only bare white 
sands at the bottom ; oh, no ! the most wonderful trees 
and plants grow there, with such flexible stalks and 
leaves, that at the slightest motion of the water they 
move just as if they were alive. All the fish, big and 
little, glide among the branches just as, up here, birds 
glide through the air. The palace of the Merman King 
lies in the very deepest part ; its walls are of coral and 
the long pointed windows of the clearest amber, but 
the roof is made of mussel shells which open and shut 
with the lapping of the water. This has a lovely effect, 
for there are gleaming pearls in every shell, any one of 
which would be the pride of a queen’s crown. 

The Merman King had been for many years a wid- 
ower, but his old mother kept house for him; she was 
a clever woman, but so proud of her noble birth that 
she wore twelve oysters on her tail, while the other 
grandees were only allowed six. Otherwise she was 
325 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


worthy of all praise, especially because she was so fond 
of the little mermaid princesses, her grandchildren. 
They were six beautiful children, but the youngest was 
the prettiest of all; her skin was as soft and delicate 
as a rose leaf, her eyes as blue as the deepest sea, but 
like all the others she had no feet, and instead of legs 
she had a fish’s tail. 

All the livelong day they used to play in the palace 
in the great halls, where living flowers grew out of the 
walls. When the great amber windows were thrown 
open the fish swam in, just as the swallows fly into 
our rooms when we open the windows, but the fish 
swam right up to the little princesses, ate out of their 
hands, and allowed themselves to be patted. 

Outside the palace was a large garden, with fiery red 
and deep blue trees, the fruit of which shone like gold, 
while the flowers glowed like fire on their ceaselessly 
waving stalks. The ground was of the finest sand, but 
it was of a blue phosphorescent tint. Everything was 
bathed in a wondrous blue light down there ; you might 
more readily have supposed yourself to be high up in 
the air, with only the sky above and below you, than 
that you were at the bottom of the ocean. In a dead 
calm you could just catch a glimpse of the sun like a 
purple flower with a stream of light radiating from its 
calyx. 

Each little princess had her own little plot of gar- 
den, where she could dig and plant just as she liked. 
One made her flower-bed in the shape of a whale ; an- 
other thought it nice to have hers like a little mer- 
326 


©CI.K113 529 


SEP 19 1917 



(J*/ U. V* . J .K CO. 

^ The fish swam right up to the little mermaid princess * 



ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


maid, but the youngest made hers quite round like the 
sun, and she would only have flowers of a rosy hue like 
its beams. She was a curious child, quiet and thought- 
ful, and while the other sisters decked out their gar- 
dens with all kinds of extraordinary objects which they 
got from wrecks, she would have nothing besides the 
rosy flowers like the sun up above, except a statue of 
a beautiful boy. It was hewn out of the purest white 
marble and had gone to the bottom from some wreck. 
By the statue she planted a rosy red weeping willow 
which grew splendidly, and the fresh delicate branches 
hung round and over it, till they almost touched the 
blue sand where the shadows showed violet, and were 
ever moving like the branches. It looked as if the 
leaves and the roots were playing interchanging 
kisses. 

Nothing gave her greater pleasure than to hear 
about the world of human beings up above ; she made 
her old grandmother tell her all she knew about 
ships and towns, people and animals. But above all it 
seemed strangely beautiful to her that up on the earth 
the flowers were scented, for they were not so at the 
bottom of the sea; also that the woods were green, 
and that the fish which were to be seen among the 
branches could sing so loudly and sweetly that it was 
a delight to listen to them. You see the grandmother 
called little birds fish, or the mermaids would not have 
understood her, as they had never seen a bird. 

“When you are fifteen,” said the grandmother, 
“you will be allowed to rise up from the sea and sit 
327 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


on the rocks in the moonlight, and look at the big ships 
sailing by, and you will also see woods and towns.* * 

One of the sisters would be fifteen in the following 
year, but the others — well, they were each one year 
younger than the other, so that the youngest had five 
whole years to wait before she would be allowed to 
come up from the bottom, to see what things were like 
on earth. But each one promised the others to give a 
full account of all that she had seen, and found most 
wonderful on the first day. Their grandmother could 
never tell them enough, for there were so many things 
about which they wanted information. 

None of them was so full of longings as the youngest, 
the very one who had the longest time to wait, and who 
was so quiet and dreamy. Many a night she stood by 
the open windows and looked up through the dark blue 
water which the fish were lashing with their tails and 
fins. She could see the moon and the stars, it is true ; 
their light was pale, but they looked much bigger 
through the water than they do to our eyes. When 
she saw a dark shadow glide between her and them, she 
knew that it was either a whale swimming above her, 
or else a ship laden with human beings. I am certain 
they never dreamt that a lovely mermaid was standing 
down below ; stretching up her white hands towards the 
keel. 

The eldest princess had now reached her fifteenth 
birthday, and was to venture above the water. When 
she came back she had hundreds of things to tell them, 
but the most delightful of all, she said, was to lie in 
328 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the moonlight, on a sandbank in a calm sea, and to 
gaze at the large town close to the shore, where the 
lights twinkled like hundreds of stars; to listen to 
music and the noise and bustle of carriages and people, 
to see the many church towers and spires, and to hear 
the bells ringing; and just because she could not go 
on shore she longed for that most of all. 

Oh! how eagerly the youngest sister listened, and 
when, later in the evening she stood at the open 
window and looked up through the dark blue water, 
she thought of the big town with all its noise and 
bustle, and fancied that she could even hear the church 
bells ringing. 

The year after, the second sister was allowed to 
mount up through the water and swim about wherever 
she liked. The sun was just going down when she 
reached the surface, the most beautiful sight, she 
thought, that she had ever seen. The whole sky had 
looked like gold, she said, and as for the clouds ! well, 
their beauty was beyond description, they floated in 
red and violet splendor over her head, and, far faster 
than they went, a flock of wild swans flew like a long 
white veil over the water towards the setting sun ; she 
swam towards it, but it sank and all the rosy light on 
clouds and water faded away. 

The year after that the third sister went up, and 
being much the most venturesome of them all, swam 
up a broad river which ran into the sea. She saw 
beautiful green, vine-clad hills; palaces and country 
seats peeping through splendid woods. She heard 
329 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the birds singing, and the sun was so hot that she 
was often obliged to dive, to cool her burning face. 
In a tiny bay she found a troop of little children 
running about naked and paddling in the water; she 
wanted to play with them, but they were frightened 
and ran away. Then a little black animal came up, 
it was a dog, but she had never seen one before; it 
barked so furiously at her that she was frightened 
and made for the open sea. She could never forget 
the beautiful woods, the green hills and the lovely 
children who could swim in the water although they 
had no fishes’ tails. 

The fourth sister was not so brave, she stayed in 
the remotest part of the ocean, and, according to her 
account, that was the most beautiful spot. You could 
see for miles and miles around you, and the sky above 
was like a great glass dome. She had seen ships, but 
only far away, so that they looked like sea-gulls. 
There were grotesque dolphins turning somersaults, 
and gigantic whales squirting water through their 
nostrils like hundreds of fountains on every side. 

Now the fifth sister’s turn came. Her birthday fell 
in the winter, so that she saw sights that the others 
had not seen on their first trips. The sea looked quite 
green, and large icebergs were floating about, each one 
of which looked like a pearl, she said, but was much 
bigger than the church towers built by men. They 
took the most wonderful shapes, and sparkled like 
diamonds. She had seated herself on one of the 
largest, and all the passing ships sheered off in alarm 
330 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


when they saw her sitting there with her long hair 
streaming loose in the wind. 

In the evening the sky became overcast with dark 
clouds; it thundered and lightened, and the huge ice- 
bergs glittering in the bright lightning, were lifted 
high into the air by the black waves. All the ships 
shortened sail, and there was fear and trembling on 
every side, but she sat quietly on her floating iceberg 
watching the blue lightning flash in zigzags down on 
to the shining sea. 

The first time any of the sisters rose above the 
water she was delighted by the novelties and beauties 
she saw; but once grown up, and at liberty to go where 
she liked, she became indifferent and longed for her 
home; in the course of a month or so they all said 
that after all their own home in the deep was best, 
it was so cozy there. 

Many an evening the five sisters interlacing their 
arms would rise above the water together. They had 
lovely voices, much clearer than any mortal, and when 
a storm was rising, and they expected ships to be 
wrecked, they would sing in the most seductive strains 
of the wonders of the deep, bidding the seafarers have 
no fear of them. But the sailors could not understand 
the words, they thought it was the voice of the storm ; 
nor could it be theirs to see this Elysium of the deep, 
for when the ship sank they were drowned, and only 
reached the Merman’s palace in death. When the 
elder sisters rose up in this manner, arm-in-arm, in 
the evening, the youngest remained behind quite alone, 
331 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


looking after them as if she must weep, but mermaids 
have no tears and so they suffer all the more. 

“Oh! if I were only fifteen !” she said. “I know 
how fond I shall be of the world above, and of the mor- 
tals who dwell there.’ ’ 

At last her fifteenth birthday came. 

“Now we shall have you off our hands,” said her 
grandmother, the old queen dowager. “Come now, 
let me adorn you like your other sisters ! 9 9 and she put 
a wreath of white lilies round her hair, but every petal 
of the flowers was half a pearl ; then the old queen had 
eight oysters fixed on to the princess’s tail to show 
her high rank. 

“But it hurts so!” said the little mermaid. 

“You must endure the pain for the sake of the 
finery ! ’ ’ said her grandmother. 

But oh! how gladly would she have shaken off all 
this splendor, and laid aside the heavy wreath. Her 
red flowers in her garden suited her much better, but 
she did not dare to make any alteration. “Good-by,” 
she said, and mounted as lightly and airily as a bubble 
through the water. 

The sun had just set when her head rose above the 
water, but the clouds were still lighted up with a rosy 
and golden splendor, and the evening star sparkled in 
the soft pink sky, the air was mild and fresh, and the 
sea as calm as a millpond. A big three-masted ship 
lay close by with only a single sail set, for there was 
not a breath of wind, and the sailors were sitting about 
the rigging, on the cross-trees, and at the mastheads. 
332 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


There was music and singing on board, and as the 
evening closed in, hundreds of gayly colored lanterns 
were lighted — they looked like the flags of all nations 
waving in the air. The little mermaid swam right up 
to the cabin windows, and every time she was lifted by 
the swell she could see through the transparent panes 
crowds of gayly dressed people. The handsomest of 
them all was the young prince with large dark eyes; 
he could not be much more than sixteen, and all these 
festivities were in honor of his birthday. The sailors 
danced on deck, and when the prince appeared among 
them hundreds of rockets were let off making it as 
light as day, and frightening the little mermaid so 
much that she had to dive under the water. She soon 
ventured up again, and it was just as if all the stars 
of heaven were falling in showers round about her. 
She had never seen such magic fires. Great suns 
whirled round, gorgeous fire-fish hung in the blue air, 
and all was reflected in the calm and glassy sea. It 
was so light on board the ship that every little rope 
could be seen, and the people still better. Oh! how 
handsome the prince was, how he laughed and smiled 
as he greeted his guests, while the music rang out in 
the quiet night. 

It got quite late, but the little mermaid could not take 
her eyes off the ship and the beautiful prince. The 
colored lanterns were put out, no more rockets were 
sent up, and the cannon had ceased its thunder, but 
deep down in the sea there was a dull murmuring and 
moaning sound. Meanwhile she was rocked up and 
333 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


down on the waves, so that she could look into the 
cabin; but the ship got more and more way on, sail 
after sail was filled by the wind, the waves grew 
stronger, great clouds gathered, and it lightened in the 
distance. Oh, there was going to be a fearful storm! 
and soon the sailors had to shorten sail. The great 
ship rocked and rolled as she dashed over the angry 
sea, the black waves rose like mountains, high enough 
to overwhelm her, but she dived like a swan through 
them and rose again and again on their towering 
crests. The little mermaid thought it a most amusing 
race, but not so the sailors. The ship creaked and 
groaned, the mighty timbers bulged and bent under 
the heavy blows, the water broke over the decks, snap- 
ping the main mast like a reed, she heeled over on her 
side and the water rushed into the hold. 

Now the little mermaid saw that they were in danger 
and she had for her own sake to beware of the floating 
beams and wreckage. One moment it was so pitch 
dark that she could not see at all, but when the light- 
ning flashed it became so light that she could see all 
on board. Every man was looking out for his own 
safety as best he could, but she more particularly fol- 
lowed the young prince with her eyes, and when the 
ship went down she saw him sink in the deep sea. At 
first she was quite delighted, for now he was coming 
to be with her, but then she remembered that human 
beings could not live under water, and that only if 
he were dead could he go to her father’s palace. No! 
he must not die ; so she swam towards him all among 
334 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


the drifting beams and planks, quite forgetting that 
they might crush her. She dived deep down under 
the water, and came up again through the waves, and 
at last reached the young prince just as he was be- 
coming unable to swim any further in the stormy sea. 
His limbs were numbed, his beautiful eyes were clos- 
ing, and he must have died if the little mermaid had 
not come to the rescue. She held his head above the 
water and let the waves drive them whithersoever they 
would. 

By daybreak all the storm was over, of the ship not 
a trace was to be seen; the sun rose from the water in 
radiant brilliance, and his rosy beams seemed to cast 
a glow of life into the prince’s cheeks, but his eyes 
remained closed. The mermaid kissed his fair and 
lofty brow, and stroked back the dripping hair; it 
seemed to her that he was like the marble statue in 
her little garden, she kissed him again and longed that 
he might live. 

At last she saw dry land before her, high blue 
mountains on whose summits the white snow glistened 
as if a flock of swans had settled there; down by 
the shore were beautiful green woods, and in the fore- 
ground a church or temple, she did not quite know 
which, but it was a building of some sort. Lemon 
and orange trees grew in the garden and lofty palms 
stood by the gate. At this point the sea formed a 
little bay where the water was quite calm, but very 
deep, right up to the cliffs ; at their foot was- a strip of 
fine white sand to which she swam with the beautiful 
335 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

prince, and laid him down on it, taking great care 
that his head should rest high up in the warm sun- 
shine. 

The hells now began to ring im the great white 
building and a number of young maidens came into 
the garden. Then the little mermaid swam further 
off behind some high rocks and covered her hair and 
breast with foam, so that no one should see her little 
face, and then she watched to see who would discover 
the poor prince. 

It was not long before one of the maidens came up 
to him, at first she seemed quite frightened, but only 
for a moment, and then she fetched several others, and 
the mermaid saw that the prince was coming to life, 
and that he smiled at all those around him, but he 
never smiled at her, you see he did not know that she 
had saved him; she felt so sad that when he was led 
away into the great building she dived sorrowfully 
into the water and made her way home to her father’s 
palace. 

Always silent and thoughtful, she became more so 
now than ever. Her sisters often asked her what she 
had seen on her first visit to the surface, but she never 
would tell them anything. 

Many an evening and many a morning she would 
rise to the place where she had left the prince. She 
saw the fruit in the garden ripen, and then gathered, 
she saw the snow melt on the mountain-tops, but she 
never saw the prince, so she always went home still 
sadder than before. At home her only consolation 
336 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

was to sit in her little garden with her arms twined 
round the handsome marble statue which reminded her 
of the prince. It was all in gloomy shade now, as she 
had ceased to tend her flowers and the garden had be- 
come a neglected wilderness of long stalks and leaves 
entangled with the branches of the tree. 

At last she could not bear it any longer, so she told 
one of her sisters, and from her it soon spread to the 
others, but to no one else except to one or two other 
mermaids who only told their dearest friends. One of 
these knew all about the prince, she had also seen the 
festivities on the ship ; she knew where he came from 
and where his kingdom was situated. 

“Come, little sister !” said the other princess, and, 
throwing their arms round each other’s shoulders, they 
rose from the water in a long line, just in front of 
the prince’s palace. 

It was built of light yellow glistening stone, with 
great marble staircases, one of which led into the 
garden. Magnificent gilded cupolas rose above the 
roof, and the spaces between the columns which en- 
circled the building were filled with life-like marble 
statues. Through the clear glass of the lofty windows 
you could see gorgeous halls adorned with costly silken 
hangings, and the pictures on the walls were a sight 
worth seeing. In the midst of the central hall a large 
fountain played, throwing its jets of spray upwards 
to a glass dome in the roof, through which the sun- 
beams lighted up the water and the beautiful plants 
which grew in the great basin. 

337 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


She knew now where he lived and often used to 
go there in the evenings, and by night over the water ; 
she swam much nearer the land than any of the others 
dared, she even ventured right up the narrow channel 
under the splendid marble terrace which threw a long 
shadow over the water. She used to sit here looking 
at the young prince who thought he was quite alone 
in the clear moonlight. 

She saw him many an evening sailing about in his 
beautiful boat, with flags waving and music playing, 
she used to peep through the green rushes, and if the 
wind happened to catch her long silvery veil and any 
one saw it, they only thought it was a swan flapping 
its wings. 

Many a night she heard the fishermen, who were 
fishing by torchlight, talking over the good deeds of 
the young prince ; and she was happy to think that she 
had saved his life when he was drifting about on the 
waves, half dead, and she could not forget how closely 
his head had pressed her breast, and how passionately 
she had kissed him; but he knew nothing of all this, 
and never saw her even in his dreams. 

She became fonder and fonder of mankind, and 
longed more and more to be able to live among them; 
their world seemed so infinitely bigger than hers ; with 
their ships they could scour the ocean, they could 
ascend the mountains high above the clouds, and their 
wooded, grass-grown lands extended further than her 
eye could reach. There was so much that she wanted 
to know, but her sisters could not give an answer to 
338 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


all her questions, so she asked her old grandmother 
who knew the upper world well, and rightly called it 
the country above the sea. 

“If men are not drowned,” asked the little mermaid, 
“do they live forever, do they not die as we do down 
here in the sea?” 

“Yes,” said the old lady, “they have to die too, 
and their life time is even shorter than ours. We may 
live here for three hundred years, but when we cease 
to exist, we become mere foam on the water and do 
not have so much as a grave among our dear ones. We 
have no immortal souls, we have no future life, we 
are just like the green sea-weed, which, once cut down, 
can never revive again ! Men, on the other hand, have 
a soul which lives forever, lives after the body has 
become dust; it rises through the clear air, up to the 
shining stars ! Just as we rise from the water to see 
the land of mortals, so they rise up to unknown beauti- 
ful regions which we shall never see. ’ 1 

“Why have we no immortal souls?” asked the little 
mermaid sadly. “I would give all my three hundred 
years to be a human being for one day, and afterwards 
to have a share in the heavenly kingdom.” 

“You must not be thinking about that,” said the 
grandmother, “we are much better off and happier 
than human beings.” 

“Then I shall have to die and to float as foam on 
the water, and never hear the music of the waves or see 
the beautiful flowers or the red sun ! Is there nothing 
I can do to gain an immortal soul?” 

339 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“No,” said the grandmother, “only if a human 
being so loved you, that you were more to him than 
father or mother, if all his thoughts and all his love 
were so centered in you that he would let the priest 
join your hands and would vow to be faithful to you 
here, and to all eternity ; then your body would become 
infused with his soul. Thus and only thus, could you 
gain a share in the felicity of mankind. He would give 
you a soul while yet keeping his own. But that can 
never happen ! That which is your greatest beauty in 
the sea, your fish’s tail, is thought hideous up on earth, 
so little do they understand about it; to be pretty 
there you must have two clumsy supports which they 
call legs!” 

Then the little mermaid sighed and looked sadly at 
her fish’s tail. 

“Let us be happy,” said the grandmother, “we will 
hop and skip during our three hundred years of life, it 
is surely a long enough time, and after it is over, we 
shall rest all the better in our graves. There is to be 
a court ball to-night.” 

This was a much more splendid affair than we ever 
see on earth. The walls and the ceiling of the great 
ball room were of thick but transparent glass. Sev- 
eral hundreds of colossal mussel shells, rose-red and 
grass-green, were ranged in order round the sides hold- 
ing blue lights, which illuminated the whole room and 
shone through the walls, so that the sea outside was 
quite lit up. You could see countless fish, great and 
small, swimming towards the glass walls, some with 
340 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


shining scales of crimson hue, while others were golden 
and silvery. In the middle of the room was a broad 
stream of running water, and on this the mermaids 
and mermen danced to their own beautiful singing. 
No earthly beings have such lovely voices. The little 
mermaid sang more sweetly than any of them and they 
all applauded her. For a moment she felt glad at 
heart, for she knew that she had the finest voice either 
in the sea or on land. But she soon began to think 
again about the upper world, she could not forget the 
handsome prince and her sorrow in not possessing, 
like him, an immortal soul. Therefore she stole out 
of her father’s palace, and while all within was joy 
and merriment, she sat sadly in her little garden. Sud- 
denly she heard the sound of a horn through the water, 
and she thought, “now he is out sailing up there; he 
whom I love more than father or mother, he to whom 
my thoughts cling and to whose hands I am ready to 
commit the happiness of my life. I will dare any- 
thing to win him and to gain an immortal soul ! While 
my sisters are dancing in my father’s palace, I will go 
to the sea witch of whom I have always been very 
much afraid, she will perhaps be able to advise and 
help me ! ” 

Thereupon the little mermaid left the garden and 
went towards the roaring whirlpools at the back of 
which the witch lived. She had never been that way 
before ; no flowers grew there, no seaweed, only the bare 
gray sands stretched towards the whirlpools, which 
like rushing mill-wheels swirled round, dragging every- 
341 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


thing that came within reach down to the depths. She 
had to pass between these boiling eddies to reach 
the witch’s domain, and for a long way the only path 
led over warm bubbling mud, which the witch called 
her “peat bog.” Her house stood behind this in the 
midst of a weird forest. All the trees and bushes were 
polyps, half animal and half plant; they looked like 
hundred-headed snakes growing out of the sand, the 
branches were long slimy arms, with tentacles like 
wriggling worms, every joint of which from the root 
to the outermost tip was in constant motion. They 
wound themselves tightly round whatever they could 
lay hold of and never let it escape. The little mermaid 
standing outside was quite frightened, her heart beat 
fast with terror and she nearly turned back, but then 
she remembered the prince and the immortal soul of 
mankind and took courage. She bound her long flow- 
ing hair tightly round her head, so that the polyps 
should not seize her by it, folded her hands over her 
breast and darted like a fish through the water, in 
between the hideous polyps which stretched out their 
sensitive arms and tentacles towards her. She could 
see that every one of them had something or other, 
which they had grasped with their hundred arms, and 
which they held as if in iron bands. The bleached 
bones of men who had perished at sea and sunk below 
peeped forth from the arms of some, while others 
clutched rudders and sea chests, or the skeleton of 
some land animal ; and most horrible of all, a little mer- 
maid whom they had caught and suffocated. Then she 
342 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


came to a large opening in the wood where the ground 
was all slimy, and where some huge fat water snakes 
were gamboling about. In the middle of this opening 
was a house built of the bones of the wrecked; there 
sat the witch, letting a toad eat out of her mouth, just 
as mortals let a little canary eat sugar. She called the 
hideous water snakes her little chickens, and allowed 
them to crawl about on her unsightly bosom. 

“I know very well what you have come here for,” 
said the witch. “It is very foolish of you! all the 
same you shall have your way, because it will lead you 
into misfortune, my fine princess. You want to get 
rid of your fish’s tail, and instead to have two stumps 
to walk about upon like human beings, so that the 
young prince may fall in love with you, and that you 
may win him and an immortal soul.” Saying this, 
she gave such a loud hideous laugh that the toad and 
the snakes fell to the ground and wriggled about there. 

“You are just in the nick of time,” said the witch, 
“after sunrise to-morrow I should not be able to help 
you until another year had run its course. I will make 
you a potion, and before sunrise you must swim ashore 
with it, seat yourself on the beach and drink it ; then 
your tail will divide and shrivel up to what men call 
beautiful legs, but it hurts, it is as if a sharp sword 
were running through you. All who see you will say 
that you are the most beautiful child of man they have 
ever seen. You will keep your gliding gait, no dancer 
will rival you, but every step you take will be as if 
you were treading upon sharp knives, so sharp as to 
343 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


draw blood. If you are willing to suffer all this I am 
ready to help you ! ’ ’ 

“Yes!” said the little princess with a trembling 
voice, thinking of the prince and of winning an undy- 
ing soul. 

“But remember,” said the witch, “when once you 
have received a human form, you can never be a mer- 
maid again, you will never again be able to dive down 
through the water to your sisters and to your father’s 
palace. And if you do not succeed in winning the 
prince’s love, so that for your sake he will forget father 
and mother, cleave to you with his whole heart, let 
the priest join your hands and make you man and wife, 
you will gain no immortal soul! The first morning 
after his marriage with another your heart will break, 
and you will turn into foam of the sea.” 

“I will do it,” said the little mermaid as pale as 
death. 

“But you will have to pay me, too,” said the witch, 
“and it is no trifle that I demand. You have the most 
beautiful voice of any at the bottom of the sea, and 
I daresay that you think you will fascinate him with 
it, but you must give me that voice, I will have the 
best you possess in return for my precious potion ! I 
have to mingle my own blood with it so as to make it 
as sharp as a two-edged sword.” 

“But if you take my voice,” said the little mermaid, 
“what have I left?” 

“Your beautiful form,” said the witch, “your glid- 
ing gait, and your speaking eyes, with these you ought 
344 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


surely to be able to bewitch a human heart. Well! 
have you lost courage ? Put out your little tongue and 
I will cut it off in payment for the powerful draught.” 

“Let it be done,” said the little mermaid, and the 
witch put on her cauldron to brew the magic potion. 
“There is nothing like cleanliness,” said she, as she 
scoured the pot with a bundle of snakes; then she 
punctured her breast and let the black blood drop into 
the cauldron, and the steam took the most weird shapes, 
enough to frighten any one. Every moment the witch 
threw new ingredients into the pot, and when it boiled 
the bubbling was like the sound of crocodiles weeping. 
At last the potion was ready and it looked like the clear- 
est water. 

“There it is,” said the witch, and thereupon she 
cut off the tongue of the little mermaid, who was dumb 
now and could neither sing nor speak. 

“If the polyps should seize you, when you go back 
through my wood,” said the witch, “just drop a single 
drop of this liquid on them, and their arms and fingers 
will burst into a thousand pieces.” But the little mer- 
maid had no need to do this, for at the mere sight of 
the bright liquid which sparkled in her hand like a 
shining star, they drew back in terror. So she soon 
got past the wood, the bog, and the eddying whirl- 
pools. 

She saw her father's palace, the lights were all out 
in the great ballroom, and no doubt all the household 
was asleep, but she did not dare to go in now that she 
was dumb and about to leave her home forever. She 
345 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

felt as if her heart would break with grief. She stole 
into the garden and plucked a flower from each of her 
sister’s plots, wafted with her hand countless kisses 
towards the palace, and then rose up through the dark 
blue water. 

The sun had not yet risen when she came in sight 
of the prince’s palace and landed at the beautiful 
marble steps. The moon was shining bright and clear. 
The little mermaid drank the burning, stinging 
draught, and it was like a sharp, two-edged sword 
running through her tender frame; she fainted away 
and lay as if she were dead. When the sun rose on 
the sea she woke up and became conscious of a sharp 
pang, but just in front of her stood the handsome young 
prince, fixing his coal black eyes on her ; she cast hers 
down and saw that her fish’s tail was gone, and she 
had the prettiest little white legs any maiden could de- 
sire, but she was quite naked, so she wrapped her long 
thick hair around her. The prince asked who she was 
and how she came there, she looked at him tenderly 
and with a sad expression in her dark blue eyes, but 
could not speak. Then he took her by the hand and 
led her into the palace. Every step she took was, as 
the witch had warned her beforehand, as if she were 
treading on sharp knives and spikes but she bore it 
gladly ; led by the prince she moved as lightly as a bub- 
ble, and he and every one else marveled at her grace- 
ful gliding gait. 

Clothed in the costliest silks and muslins she was 
the greatest beauty in the palace, but she was dumb 
346 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and could neither sing nor speak. Beautiful slaves 
clad in silks and gold came forward and sang to the 
prince and his royal parents ; one of them sang better 
than all the others, and the prince clapped his hands 
and smiled at her ; that made the little mermaid very 
sad, for she knew that she used to sing far better 
herself. She thought, ‘‘Oh! if he only knew that for 
the sake of being with him I had given up my voice 
forever !” Now the slaves began to dance, graceful 
undulating dances to enchanting music ; thereupon the 
little mermaid lifting her beautiful white arms and 
raising herself on tiptoe glided on the floor with a 
grace which none of the other dancers had yet at- 
tained. With every motion her grace and beauty be- 
came more apparent, and her eyes appealed more 
deeply to the heart than the songs of the slaves. 
Every one was delighted with it, especially the prince, 
who called her his little foundling, and she danced on 
and on, notwithstanding that every time her foot 
touched the ground it was like treading on sharp 
knives. The prince said that she should always be 
near him, and she was allowed to sleep outside his 
door on a velvet cushion. 

He had a man’s dress made for her, so that she 
could ride about with him. They used to ride through 
scented woods, where the green branches brushed her 
shoulders, and little birds sang among the fresh leaves. 
She climbed up the highest mountains with the prince, 
and although her delicate feet bled so that others saw 
it, she only laughed and followed him until they saw 
347 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the clouds sailing below them like a flock of birds, 
taking flight to distant lands. 

At home in the prince’s palace, when at night the 
others were asleep, she used to go out on to the marble 
steps; it cooled her burning feet to stand in the cold 
sea water, and at such times she used to think of those 
she had left in the deep. 

One night her sisters came arm in arm; they sang 
so sorrowfully as they swam on the water that she 
beckoned to them and they recognized her, and told 
her how she had grieved them all. After that they 
visited her every night, and one night she saw, a long 
way out, her old grandmother (who for many years 
had not been above the water), and the Merman King 
with his crown on his head; they stretched out their 
hands towards her, but did not venture so close to 
land as her sisters. 

Day by day she became dearer to the prince, he 
loved her as one loves a good sweet child, but it never 
entered his head to make her his queen ; yet unless she 
became his wife she would never win an everlasting 
soul, but on his wedding morning would turn to sea 
foam. 

“Am I not dearer to you than any of them V ’ the 
little mermaid’s eyes seemed to say when he took her 
in his arms and kissed her beautiful brow. 

“Yes, you are the dearest one to me,” said the 
prince, “for you have the best heart of them all, and 
you are fondest of me ; you are also like a young girl 
I once saw, but whom I never expect to see again. I 
348 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


was on board a ship which was wrecked, I was driven 
on shore by the waves close to a holy Temple where 
several young girls were ministering at a service ; the 
youngest of them found me on the beach and saved 
my life ; I saw her but twice. She was the only person 
I could love in this world, but you are like her, you 
almost drive her image out of my heart. She belongs 
to the holy Temple, and therefore by good fortune you 
have been sent to me, we will never part!” 

“Alas ! he does not know that it was I who saved his 
life,” thought the little mermaid. “I bore him over 
the sea to the wood, where the Temple stands. I sat 
behind the foam and watched to see if any one would 
come. I saw the pretty girl he loves better than me.” 
And the mermaid heaved a bitter sigh, for she could 
not weep. 

“The girl belongs to the holy Temple, he has said, 
she will never return to the world, they will never meet 
again, I am here with him, I see him every day. Yes ! 
I will tend him, love him, and give up my life to him.” 

But now the rumor ran that the prince was to be 
married to the beautiful daughter of a neighboring 
king, and for that reason was fitting out a splendid 
ship. It was given out that the prince was going on 
a voyage to see the adjoining countries, but it was with- 
out doubt to see the king's daughter; he was to have 
a great suite with him, but the little mermaid shook 
her head and laughed; she knew the prince's intentions 
much better than any of the others. “I must take this 
voyage,” he had said to her; “I must go and see this 
349 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


beautiful princess; my parents demand that, but they 
will never force me to bring her home as my bride ; I 
can never love her! She will not be like the lovely 
girl in the Temple whom you resemble. If ever I had 
to choose a bride it would sooner be you with your 
speaking eyes, my sweet, dumb foundling 1” And he 
kissed her rosy mouth, played with her long hair, and 
laid his head upon her heart, which already dreamt of 
human joys and an immortal soul. 

‘‘You are not frightened of the sea, I suppose, my 
dumb child V’ he said, as they stood on the proud ship 
which was to carry them to the country of the neigh- 
boring king; and he told her about storms and calms, 
about curious fish in the deep, and the marvels seen 
by divers; and she smiled at his tales, for she knew 
all about the bottom of the sea much better than any 
one else. 

At night, in the moonlight, when all were asleep, 
except the steersman who stood at the helm, she sat 
at the side of the ship trying to pierce the clear water 
with her eyes, and fancied she saw her father’s palace, 
and above it her old grandmother with her silver crown 
on her head, looking up through the cross currents 
towards the keel of the ship. Then her sisters rose 
above the water, they gazed sadly at her, wringing their 
white hands; she beckoned to them, smiled, and was 
about to tell them that all was going well and happily 
with her, when the cabin boy approached, and the 
sisters dived down, but he supposed that the white ob- 
jects he had seen were nothing but flakes of foam. 

350 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


The next morning the ship entered the harbor of 
the neighboring king’s magnificent city. The church 
bells rang and trumpets were sounded from every lofty 
tower, while the soldiers paraded with flags flying and 
glittering bayonets. There was a fete every day, there 
was a succession of balls, and receptions followed one 
after the other, but the princess was not ydt present, 
she was being brought up a long way off, in a holy 
Temple they said, and was learning all the royal 
virtues. At last she came. The little mermaid stood 
eager to see her beauty, and she was obliged to confess 
that a lovelier creature she had never beheld. Her 
complexion was exquisitely pure and delicate, and her 
trustful eyes of the deepest blue shone through their 
dark lashes. 

“It is you,” said the prince, “you who saved me 
when I lay almost lifeless on the beach?” and he 
clasped his blushing bride to his heart. “Oh! I am 
too happy!” he exclaimed to the little mermaid. 

“A greater joy than I had dared to hope for has 
come to pass. You will rejoice at my joy, for you love 
me better than any one.” Then the little mermaid 
kissed his hand, and felt as if her heart were broken 
already. 

His wedding morn would bring death to her and 
change her to foam. 

All the church bells pealed and heralds rode through 
the town proclaiming the nuptials. Upon every altar 
throughout the land fragrant oil was burnt in costly 
silver lamps. Amidst the swinging of censers by the 
351 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


priests, the bride and bridegroom joined hands and re- 
ceived the bishop’s blessing. The little mermaid 
dressed in silk and gold stood holding the bride’s train, 
but her ears were deaf to the festal strains, her eyes 
saw nothing of the sacred ceremony, she was thinking 
of her coming death and of all that she had lost in this 
world. 

That same evening the bride and bridegroom em- 
barked, amidst the roar of cannon and the waving of 
banners. A royal tent of purple and gold softly cush- 
ioned was raised amidships where the bridal pair were 
to repose during the calm cool night. 

The sails swelled in the wind and the ship skimmed 
lightly and almost without motion over the transparent 
sea. 

At dusk lanterns of many colors were lighted and the 
sailors danced merrily on deck. The little mermaid 
could not help thinking of the first time she came up 
from the sea and saw the same splendor and gayety; 
and she now threw herself among the dancers, whirling, 
as a swallow skims through the air when pursued. The 
onlookers cheered her in amazement, never had she 
danced so divinely; her delicate feet pained her as if 
they were cut with knives, but she did not feel it, for 
the pain at her heart was much sharper. She knew 
that it was the last night that she would breathe the 
same air as he, and would look upon the mighty deep, 
and the blue starry heavens ; an endless night without 
thought and without dreams awaited her, who neither 
had a soul, nor could win one. The joy and revelry 
352 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


on board lasted till long past midnight, she went on 
laughing and dancing with the thought of death all 
the time in her heart. The prince caressed his lovely 
bride and she played with his raven locks, and with 
their arms entwined they retired to the gorgeous tent. 
All became hushed and still on board the ship, only 
the steersman stood at the helm, the little mermaid 
laid her white arms on the gunwale and looked east- 
wards for the pink tinted dawn ; the first sunbeam she 
knew would be her death. Then she saw her sisters 
rise from the water, they were as pale as she was, 
their beautiful long hair no longer floated on the breeze, 
for it had been cut off. 

“We have given it to the witch to obtain her help, so 
that you may not die to-night ! she has given us a knife, 
here it is, look how sharp it is ! Before the sun rises, 
you must plunge it into the prince’s heart, and when 
his warm blood sprinkles your feet they will join to- 
gether and grow into a tail, and you will once more be 
a mermaid; you will be able to come down into the 
water to us, and to live out your three hundred years 
before you are turned into dead, salt, sea-foam. Make 
haste! you or he must die before sunrise! Our old 
grandmother is so full of grief that her white hair has 
fallen off as ours fell under the witch’s scissors. Slay 
the prince and come back to us! Quick! Quick! do 
you not see the rosy streak in the sky? In a few 
moments the sun will rise and then you must die!” 
saying this they heaved a wondrous deep sigh and 
sank among the waves. 


353 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 

The little mermaid drew aside the purple curtain 
from the tent and looked at the beautiful bride asleep 
with her head on the prince’s breast; she bent over 
him and kissed his fair brow, looked at the sky where 
the dawn was spreading fast; looked at the sharp knife, 
and again fixed her eyes on the prince who, in his 
dream called his bride by name, yes ! she alone was in 
his thoughts ! — For a moment the knife quivered in her 
grasp, then she threw it far out among the waves now 
rosy in the morning light and where it fell the water 
bubbled up like drops of blood. 

Once more she looked at the prince, with her eyes 
already dimmed by death, then dashed overboard and 
fell, her body dissolving into foam. 

Now the sun rose from the sea and with its kindly 
beams warmed the deadly cold foam, so that the little 
mermaid did not feel the chill of death. She saw the 
bright sun and above her floated hundreds of beauteous 
ethereal beings through which she could see the white 
ship and the rosy heavens, their voices were melodious 
but so spirit-like that no human ear could hear them, 
any more than an earthly eye could see their forms. 
Light as bubbles they floated through the air without 
the aid of wings. The little mermaid perceived that 
she had a form like theirs, it gradually took shape out 
of the foam. “To whom am I coming V’ said she, and 
her voice sounded like that of the other beings, so un- 
earthly in its beauty that no music of ours could repro- 
duce it. 

“To the daughters of the air!” answered the others, 

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ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“a mermaid has no undying soul, and can never gain 
one without winning the love of a human being. Her 
eternal life must depend upon an unknown power. 
Nor have the daughters of the air an everlasting soul, 
but by their own good deeds they may create one for 
themselves. We fly to the tropics where mankind is 
the victim of hot and pestilent winds, there we bring 
cooling breezes. We diffuse the scent of flowers all 
around, and bring refreshment and healing in our train. 
When, for three hundred years, we have labored to do 
all the good in our power we gain an undying soul and 
take part in the everlasting joys of mankind. You, 
poor little mermaid, have with your whole heart strug- 
gled for the same thing, as we have struggled for. You 
have suffered and endured, raised yourself to the spirit 
world of the air ; and now, by your own good deeds you 
may, in the course of three hundred years, work out 
for yourself an undying soul.” 

Then the little mermaid lifted her transparent arms 
towards God's sun, and for the first time shed tears. 

On board ship all was again life and bustle, she saw 
the prince with his lovely bride searching for her, they 
looked sadly at the bubbling foam, as if they knew that 
she had thrown herself into the waves. Unseen she 
kissed the bride on her brow, smiled at the prince and 
rose aloft with the other spirits of the air to the rosy 
clouds which sailed above. 

< <In three hundred years we shall thus float into 
Paradise.” 

‘ ‘We might reach it sooner,” whispered one. “Un- 

355 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


seen we flit into those homes of men where there are 
children, and for every day that we find a good child 
who gives pleasure to its parents and deserves their 
love, God shortens our time of probation. The child 
does not know when we fly through the room, and when 
we smile with pleasure at it, one year of our three hun- 
dred is taken away. But if we see a naughty or badly 
disposed child, we cannot help shedding tears of sor- 
row, and every tear adds a day to the time of our pro- 
bation. , 9 


356 


THE ROSE ELF 


I N the middle of a garden grew a rose tree; it was 
full of roses, and in the loveliest of them all lived 
an elf. He was so tiny that no human eye could see 
him. He had a snug little room behind every petal of 
the rose. He was as well made and as perfect as any 
human child, and he had wings reaching from his 
shoulders to his feet. Oh, what a delicious scent there 
was in his room, and how lovely and transparent the 
walls were, for they were palest pink rose petals. All 
day he reveled in the sunshine, flew from flower to 
flower, and danced on the wings of fluttering butterflies. 
Then he would measure how many steps he would have 
to take to run along the high roads and paths on a 
linden leaf. These paths were what we call veins, hut 
they were endless roads to him. Before he came to the 
end of them the sun wertt down, for he had begun 
rather late. 

It became very cold, the dew fell and the wind blew; 
it was high time for him to get home. He hurried as 
much as ever he could, but the rose had shut itself up, 
and he could not get in, — not a single rose was open. 
The poor little rose elf was dreadfully frightened, he 
had never been out in the night before ; he had always 
slept so safely behind his cozy rose leaves. Oh, it 
would surely be his death ! 

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ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


At the other end of the garden he knew there was an 
arbor covered with delicious honeysuckle, the flowers 
looked like beautiful painted horns. He would get into 
one of these and sleep till morning. 

He flew along to it. Hush! There were already 
two people in the arbor, a young handsome man 
and a lovely maiden. They sat side by side and 
wished they might never be parted, so tenderly did 
they love each other. They loved each other more 
dearly than the best child can even love its father and 
mother. 

“ Still, we must part,” said the young man: “your 
brother is not friendly to us, therefore he sends me on 
such a distant errand, far away over the mountains 
and oceans. Good-by, my sweetest bride, for you are 
that to me, you know ! ’ ’ 

Then they kissed each other and the young girl wept, 
and gave him a rose, but before she gave it to him she 
pressed a kiss upon it, a kiss so tender and impassioned 
that the rose spread its petals. Then the little elf flew 
in and leant his head against the delicate fragrant 
walls, but he could hear them saying, “Farewell, fare- 
well,” and he felt that the rose was placed upon the 
young man’s heart — ah, how it beat! The little elf 
could not go to sleep because of its beating. 

The rose did not remain long undisturbed on that 
beating heart ; the young man took it out, as he walked 
alone through the dark wood, and kissed it passionately 
many, many times ; the little elf thought he would be 
crushed to death. He could feel the young man’s burn- 
358 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


in g lips through the leaves, and the rose opened as it 
might have done under the midday sun. 

Then another man came up behind, dark and angry ; 
he was the pretty girl’s wicked brother. He took out 
a long sharp knife, and while the other was kissing the 
rose the bad man stabbed him. He cut off his head 
and buried it with the body in the soft earth under the 
linden tree. 

“ Now he is dead and done with,” thought the wicketl 
brother. “He will never come back any more. He 
had a long journey to take over mountains and oceans 
where one’s life may easily be lost, and he has lost 
his. He will never come back, and my sister will never 
dare to ask me about him. ’ 7 

Then he raked up the dead leaves with his foot, over 
the earth where it had been disturbed, and went home 
again in the darkness of the night. But he was not 
alone, as he thought ; the little elf went with him. He 
was hidden in a withered linden leaf which had fallen 
from the tree on the bad man’s head while he was 
digging the grave. It was covered by his hat now, 
and it was so dark inside, where the little elf sat trem- 
bling with fear and anger at the wicked deed. The 
bad man got home in the early morning; he took off his 
hat, and went into his sister ’s bedroom. There lay the 
pretty, blooming girl dreaming about her beloved, 
whom she thought so far away, beyond mountains 
and woods. The wicked brother leant over her with 
an evil laugh, such as a fiend might laugh. The with- 
ered leaf fell out of his hair upon the counterpane; 
359 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


but he never noticed it, and went away to get a little 
sleep himself. But the elf crept out of the dead leaf, 
and into the ear of the sleeping girl, and told her, as 
in a dream, the tale of the terrible murder. He de- 
scribed the place where her brother had committed the 
murder, and where he had laid the body; he told her 
about the flowering linden tree, and said , 4 ‘ So that you 
may not think all I have told you is a mere dream, you 
will find a withered leaf upon your bed . 1 9 

This she found, as he had said, when she woke. Oh ! 
what bitter, bitter tears she shed. To no one did she 
dare betray her grief. Her window stood open all day, 
and the little elf could easily have got into the garden 
to the roses and all the other flowers, but he could not 
bear to leave the sorrowing girl. A monthly rose-bush 
stood in the window, and he took up his place in one of 
the flowers, whence he could watch the poor girl. Her 
brother often came into the room. He was merry with 
an evil mirth, but she dared not say a word about the 
grief at her heart. 

When night came she stole out of the house, and into 
the wood, to the place where the linden tree stood. She 
tore away the leaves from the ground and dug down 
into the earth, and at once found him who had been 
murdered. Oh, how she wept and prayed to God that 
she too might soon die. Gladly would she have taken 
the body home with her could she have done so. But 
she took the pale head with the closed eyes, kissed the 
cold lips and shook the earth out of his beautiful hair. 

“This shall be mine!” she said, when she had cov- 

360 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


ered up the body with earth and leaves. Then she took 
the head home with her and a little spray of the jas- 
mine tree which flowered in the wood where he was 
killed. 

As soon as she reached her room she fetched the 
biggest flower pot she could find, and laid the head of 
the dead man in it, covered it with earth, and planted 
the sprig of jasmine in the pot. 

“Farewell, farewell !” whispered the little elf. He 
could no longer bear to look at such grief, so he flew 
away into the garden to his rose, but it was withered, 
and only a few faded leaves hung round the green 
calyx. “Alas ! how quickly the good and the beautiful 
pass away!” sighed the elf. At last he found another 
rose, and made it his home. He could dwell in safety 
behind its fragrant petals. 

Every morning he flew to the poor girl’s window, and 
she was always there, weeping by the flower pot. Her 
salt tears fell upon the jasmine, and for every day that 
she grew paler and paler the sprig gained in strength 
and vigor. One shoot appeared after another, and then 
little white flower buds showed themselves, and she 
kissed them; but her wicked brother scolded her, and 
asked if she was crazy. He did not like to see, and 
could not imagine why, she was always hanging weep- 
ing over the flower pot. He did not know what eyes 
lay hidden there, closed forever, nor what red lips had 
returned to dust within its depths. She leant her head 
against the flower pot, and the little elf found her there, 
fallen into a gentle slumber. He crept into her ear, 
361 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and whispered to her of that evening in the arbor, 
about the scented roses, and the love of the elves. She 
dreamt these sweet dreams, and while she dreamt her 
life passed away. She was dead — she had died a peace- 
ful death, and had passed to heaven to her beloved! 
The jasmine opened its big white blossoms, and they 
gave out their sweetest scent. They had no other way 
of weeping over the dead. 

The wicked brother saw the beautiful flowering plant, 
and he took it for himself as an inheritance. He put 
it into his own bedroom, close by his bedside, because 
it was so beautiful to look at, and smelt so sweet and 
fresh. The little rose elf accompanied it and flew from 
blossom to blossom; in each lived a little elf, and to 
each one he told the story of the murdered man whose 
head now rested under the earth. He told them about 
the wicked brother and his poor sister. 

‘‘We know it,” said each little creature. “We know 
it; did we not spring from those murdered eyes and 
lips? We know it, we know it !” and then they nodded 
their heads so oddly. 

The rose elf could not understand how they could be 
so quiet about it, and he flew to the bees who were 
gathering honey. He told them the story about the 
wicked brother, and the bees told it to their queen, 
who commanded them all to kill the murderer next 
morning. 

But in the night, the first night after his sister’s 
death, when the brother was asleep in his bed, close to 
the fragrant jasmine tree, every blossom opened wide 
362 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


its petals, and out of every flower stepped invisibly, 
but armed each with a tiny poisoned spear, the little 
spirits from the flower. First they took their places 
by his ear, and told him evil dreams; then they flew 
over his mouth and pierced his tongue with their 
poisoned darts. 

“Now we have revenged the dead!” said they, and 
crept back again into the white bells of the jasmine. 

When morning came, the window all at once flew 
open, and in flew the rose elf and all the swarm of bees 
with their queen to kill him. 

But he was already dead; people stood round the 
bed and said, “The scent of the jasmine has killed 
him!” 

Then the rose elf understood the vengeance of the 
flowers, and told it to the queen bee, and she with all 
her swarm buzzed round the flower pot ; the bees would 
not be driven away. Then a man took up the flower 
pot, and one of the bees stung his hand, and he let the 
flower pot fall, and it was broken to bits. 

Then they saw the whitened skull, and they knew 
that the dead man lying on the bed was a murderer. 
The queen bee hummed in the air, and sang about the 
vengeance of the flowers to the rose elf, and that be- 
hind each smallest leaf lurks a being who can discover 
and revenge every evil deed. 


363 


THE WILD SWANS 


F AR away, where the swallows take refuge in 
winter, lived a king who had eleven sons and one 
daugher, Elise. The eleven brothers — they were all 
princes — used to go to school with stars on their 
breasts and swords at their sides. They wrote upon 
golden slates with diamond pencils, and could read just 
as well without a book as with one, so there was no 
mistake about their being real princes. Their sister 
Elise sat upon a little footstool of looking-glass, and 
she had a picture-book which had cost the half of a 
kingdom. Oh, these children were very happy; but 
it was not to last thus forever. 

Their father, who was king over all the land, married 
a wicked queen who was not at all kind to the poor chil- 
dren; they found that out on the first day. All was 
festive at the castle, but when the children wanted to 
play at having company, instead of having as many 
cakes and baked apples as ever they wanted, she would 
only let them have some sand in a tea-cup, and said 
they must make-believe. 

In the following week she sent little Elise into the 
country to board with some peasants, and it did not 
take her long to make the king believe so many bad 
things about the boys, that he cared no more about 
them. 


364 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“Fly out into the world and look after yourselves/’ 
said the wicked queen; “you shall fly about like birds 
without voices. ’ ’ 

But she could not make things as bad for them as she 
would have liked; they turned into eleven beautiful 
wild swans. They flew out of the palace window with 
a weird scream, right across the park and the woods. 

It was very early in the morning when they came to 
the place where their sister Elise was sleeping in the 
peasant’s house. They hovered over the roof of the 
house, turning and twisting their long necks, and flap- 
ping their wings ; but no one either heard or saw them. 
They had to fly away again, and they soared up towards 
the clouds, far out into the wide world, and they settled 
in a big, dark wood, which stretched down to the shore. 

Poor little Elise stood in the peasant’s room, play- 
ing with a green leaf, for she had no other toys. She 
made a little hole in it, which she looked through at 
the sun, and it seemed to her as if she saw her brothers ’ 
bright eyes. Every time the warm sunbeams shone 
upon her cheek, it reminded her of their kisses. One 
day passed just like another. When the wind whistled 
through the rose-hedges outside the house, it whispered 
to the roses, “Who can be prettier than you are?” 
But the roses shook their heads and answered, 
“Elise!” And when the old woman sat in the door- 
way reading her Psalms, the wind turned over the 
leaves and said to the book, “Who can be more pious 
than you?” “Elise!” answered the book. Both the 
roses and the book of Psalms only spoke the truth. 
365 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


She was to go home when she was fifteen, but when 
the queen saw how pretty she was, she got very angry, 
and her heart was filled with hatred. She would will- 
ingly have turned her into a wild swan too, like her 
brothers, but she did not dare to do it at once, for the 
king wanted to see his daughter. The queen always 
went to the bath in the early morning. It was built 
of marble and adorned with soft cushions and beauti- 
ful carpets. 

She took three toads, kissed them, and said to the 
first, “Sit upon Elise’s head when she comes to the 
bath, so that she may become sluggish like yourself. 
Sit upon her forehead,’ ’ she said to the second, “that 
she may become ugly like you, and then her father 
won’t know her! Rest upon her heart,” she whis- 
pered to the third. “Let an evil spirit come over her, 
which may be a burden to her.” Then she put the 
toads into the clean water, and a green tinge imme- 
diately came over it. She called Elise, undressed her, 
and made her go into the bath ; when she ducked under 
the water, one of the toads got among her hair, the 
other got on to her forehead, and the third on to her 
bosom. But when she stood up three scarlet poppies 
floated on the water ; had not the creatures been poison- 
ous, and kissed by the sorceress, they would have been 
changed into crimson roses, but yet they became flow- 
ers from merely having rested a moment on her head 
and her heart. She was far too good and innocent 
for the sorcery to have any power over her. When 
the wicked queen saw this, she rubbed her over with 
366 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


walnut juice, and smeared her face with some evil- 
smelling salve. She also matted up her beautiful hair ; 
it would have been impossible to recognize pretty Elise. 
When her father saw her, he was quite horrified and 
said that she could not be his daughter. Nobody would 
have anything to say to her, except the yard dog, and 
the swallows, and they were poor dumb animals whose 
opinion went for nothing. 

Poor Elise wept, and thought of her eleven brothers 
who were all lost. She crept sadly out of the palace 
and wandered about all day, over meadows and 
marshes, and into a big forest. She did not know in 
the least where she wanted to go, but she felt very sad, 
and longed for her brothers, who, no doubt, like her- 
self had been driven out of the palace. She made up 
her mind to go and look for them, but she had only 
been in the wood for a short time when night fell. 
She had quite lost her way, so she lay down upon the 
soft moss, said her evening prayer, and rested her head 
on a little hillock. It was very still and the air was 
mild; hundreds of glow-worms shone around her on 
the grass and in the marsh like green fire. When she 
gently moved one of the branches over her head, the 
little shining insects fell over her like a shower of 
stars. She dreamt about her brothers all night long. 
Again they were children playing together ; they wrote 
upon the golden slates with their diamond pencils, and 
she looked at the picture-book which had cost half a 
kingdom. But they no longer wrote strokes and 
noughts upon their slates as they used to do ; no, they 
367 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


wrote down all their boldest exploits, and everything 
that they had seen and experienced. Everything in 
the picture book was alive; the birds sang, and the 
people walked out of the book, and spoke to Elise and 
her brothers. When she turned over a page, they 
skipped back into their places again, so that there 
should be no confusion among the pictures. 

When she woke the sun was already high ; it is true 
she could not see it very well through the thick 
branches of the lofty forest trees, but the sunbeams 
cast a golden shimmer around beyond the forest. 
There was a fresh delicious scent of grass and herbs 
in the air, and the birds were almost ready to perch 
upon her shoulders. She could hear the splashing of 
water, for there were many springs around, which all 
flowed into a pond with a lovely sandy bottom. It was 
surrounded with thick bushes, but there was one place 
which the stags had trampled down and Elise passed 
through the opening to the water side. It was so 
transparent, that had not the branches been moved by 
the breeze, she must have thought that they were 
painted on the bottom, so plainly was every leaf re- 
flected, both those on which the sun played and those 
which were in shade. 

When she saw her own face she was quite frightened, 
it was so brown and ugly, but when she wet her little 
hand and rubbed her eyes and forehead, her white skin 
shone through again. Then she took off all her clothes 
and went into the fresh water. A more beautiful royal 
child than she could not be found in all the world. 

368 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


When she had put on her clothes again, and plaited 
her long hair, she went to a sparkling spring and drank 
some of the water out of the hollow of her hand. Then 
she wandered further into the wood, though where she 
was going she had not the least idea. She thought of 
her brothers, and she thought of a merciful God who 
would not forsake her. He let the wild crab-apples 
grow to feed the hungry. He showed her a tree, the 
branches of which were bending beneath their weight 
of fruit. Here she made her midday meal, and, having 
put props under the branches, she walked on into the 
thickest part of the forest. It was so quiet that she 
heard her own footsteps, she heard every little with- 
ered leaf which bent under her feet. Not a bird was 
to be seen, not a ray of sunlight pierced the leafy 
branches, and the tall trunks were so close together 
that when she looked before her it seemed as if a thick 
fence of heavy beams hemmed her in on every side. 
The solitude was such as she had never known be- 
fore. 

It was a very dark night, not a single glow-worm 
sparkled in the marsh; sadly she lay down to sleep, 
and it seemed to her as if the branches above her 
parted asunder, and the Savior looked down upon her 
with His loving eyes, and little angels’ heads peeped 
out above His head and under His arms. 

When she woke in the morning she was not sure if 
she had dreamt this, or whether it was really true. 

She walked a little further, when she met an old 
woman with a basket full of berries, of which she gave 
369 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


her some. Elise asked if she had seen eleven princes 
ride through the wood. “No,” said the old woman, 
“but yesterday I saw eleven swans, with golden crowns 
upon their heads, swimming in the stream close by 
there. ’ ’ 

She led Elise a little further to a slope, at the foot 
of which the stream meandered. The trees on either 
bank stretched out their rich leafy branches towards 
each other, and where, from their natural growth, they 
could not reach each other, they had torn their roots 
out of the ground, and leant over the water so as to 
interlace their branches. 

Elise said good-by to the old woman, and walked 
along by the river till it flowed out into the great open 
sea. 

The beautiful open sea lay before the maiden, but 
not a sail was to be seen on it, not a single boat. How 
was she ever to get any further? She looked at the 
numberless little pebbles on the beach; they were all 
worn quite round by the water. Glass, iron, stone, 
whatever was washed up, had taken their shapes from 
the water, which yet was much softer than her little 
hand. “With all its rolling, it is untiring, and every- 
thing hard is smoothed down. I will be just as untir- 
ing! Thank you for your lesson, you clear rolling 
waves ! Some time, so my heart tells me, you will bear 
me to my beloved brothers!” 

Eleven white swans’ feathers were lying on the sea- 
weed ; she picked them up and made a bunch of them. 
There were still drops of water on then*. Whether 
370 



©CI.K1135 30 SEP 19 1917 


©G.W. J.&CO. 

The swans settled close by her _ 




















ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


these were dew or tears no one could tell. It was very 
lonely there by the shore, but she did not feel it, for 
the sea was ever-changing. There were more changes 
on it in the course of a few hours than could be seen 
on an inland fresh-water lake in a year. If a big black 
cloud arose, it was just as if the sea wanted to say, “I 
can look black too , 7 7 and then the wind blew up and the 
waves showed their white crests. But if the clouds 
were red and the wind dropped, the sea looked like a 
rose-leaf, now white, now green. But, however still it 
was, there was always a little gentle motion just by 
the shore ; the water rose and fell softly like the bosom 
of a sleeping child. 

When the sun was just about to go down, Elise saw 
eleven wild swans with golden crowns upon their heads 
flying towards the shore. They flew in a swaying line, 
one behind the other, like a white ribbon streamer. 
Elise climbed up onto the bank and hid behind a bush ; 
the swans settled close by her and flapped their great 
white wings. 

As soon as the sun had sunk beneath the water the 
swans shed their feathers and became eleven handsome 
princes; they were Elise’s brothers. Although they 
had altered a good deal, she knew them at once; she 
felt that they must be her brothers and she sprang into 
their arms, calling them by name. They were de- 
lighted when they recognized their little sister who 
had grown so big and beautiful. They laughed and 
cried, and told each other how wickedly their step- 
mother had treated them all. 

371 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“We brothers,’ ’ said the eldest, “have to fly about 
in the guise of swans, as long as the sun is above the 
horizon. When it goes down we regain our human 
shapes. So we always have to look out for a resting 
place near sunset, for should we happen to be flying 
up among the clouds when the sun goes down, we 
should be hurled to the depths below. We do not live 
here; there is another land, just as beautiful as this, 
beyond the sea ; but the way to it is very long and we 
have to cross the mighty ocean to get to it. There is 
not a single island on the way where we can spend the 
night; only one solitary little rock just up above the 
water midway. It is only just big enough for us to 
stand upon close together, and if there is a heavy sea 
the water splashes over us, yet we thank our God for 
it. We stay there over night in our human forms, and 
without it we could never revisit our beloved Father- 
land, for our flight takes two of the longest days in 
the year. We are only permitted to visit the home of 
our fathers once a year, and we dare only stay for 
eleven days. We hover over this big forest from 
whence we catch a glimpse of the palace where we were 
born, and where our father lives ; beyond it we can see 
the high church towers where our mother is buried. 
We fancy that the trees and bushes here are related 
to us; and the wild horses gallop over the moors, as 
we used to see them in our childhood. The charcoal 
burners still sing the old songs we used to dance to 
when we were children. This is our Fatherland; we 
are drawn towards it, and here we have found you 
372 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

again, dear little sister! We may stay here two days 
longer, and then we must fly away again across the 
ocean, to a lovely country indeed, but it is not our own 
dear Fatherland! How shall we ever take you with 
us? We have neither ship nor boat!” 

‘ 4 How can I deliver you ? ’ ’ said their sister, and they 
went on talking to each other, nearly all night; they 
only dozed for a few hours. 

Elise was awakened in the morning by the rustling 
of the swans’ wings above her; her brothers were again 
transformed and were wheeling round in great circles, 
till she lost sight of them in the distance. One of them, 
the youngest, stayed behind. He laid his head against 
her bosom, and she caressed it with her fingers. They 
remained together all day ; towards evening the others 
came back, and as soon as the sun went down they took 
their natural forms. 

“To-morrow we must fly away, and we dare not come 
back for a whole year, but we can’t leave you like 
this! Have you courage to go with us? My arm is 
strong enough to carry you over the forest, so surely 
our united strength ought to be sufficient to bear you 
across the ocean.” 

“Oh, yes ! take me with you,” said Elise. 

They spent the whole night in weaving a kind of net 
of the elastic bark of the willow bound together with 
tough rushes; they made it both large and strong. 
Elise lay down upon it, and when the sun rose and the 
brothers became swans again, they took up the net in 
their bills and flew high up among the clouds with their 
373 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


precious sister, who was fast asleep. The sunbeams 
fell straight on to her face, so one of the swans flew 
over her head so that its broad wings should shade her. 

They were far from land when Elise woke; she 
thought she must still be dreaming, it seemed so 
strange to be carried through the air so high up above 
the sea. By her side lay a branch of beautiful ripe ber- 
ries, and a bundle of savory roots, which her younger 
brother had collected for her, and for which she gave 
him a grateful smile. She knew it was he who flew 
above her head shading her from the sun. They were 
so high up that the first ship they saw looked like a 
gull floating on the water. A great cloud came up be- 
hind them like a mountain, and Elise saw the shadow 
of herself on it, and those of the eleven swans looking 
like giants. It was a more beautiful picture than any 
she had ever seen before, but as the sun rose higher, 
the cloud fell behind, and the shadow picture disap- 
peared. 

They flew on and on all day like an arrow whizzing 
through the air, but they went slower than usual, for 
now they had their sister to carry. A storm came up, 
and night was drawing on; Elise saw the sun sinking 
with terror in her heart, for the solitary rock was no- 
where to be seen. The swans seemed to be taking 
stronger strokes than ever; alas! she was the cause of 
their not being able to get on faster ; as soon as the sun 
went down they would become men, and they would be 
hurled into the sea and drowned. She prayed to God 
from the bottom of her heart, but still no rock was to 
374 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


be seen! Black clouds gathered, and strong gusts of 
wind announced a storm ; the clouds looked like a great 
threatening leaden wave, and the flashes of lightning 
followed each other rapidly. 

The sun was now at the edge of the sea. Elise ’s 
heart quaked, when suddenly the swans shot down- 
wards so suddenly, that she thought they were falling, 
then they hovered again. Half of the sun was below 
the horizon, and there for the first time she saw the 
little rock below, which did not look bigger than the 
head of a seal above the water. The sun sank very 
quickly; it was no bigger than a star, but her foot 
touched solid earth. The sun went out like the last 
sparks of a bit of burning paper ; she saw her brothers 
stand arm in arm around her, but there was only just 
room enough for them. The waves beat upon the rock, 
and washed over them like drenching rain. The 
heaven shone with continuous fire, and the thunder 
rolled, peal upon peal. But the sister and brothers 
held each other’s hands and sang a psalm which gave 
them comfort and courage. 

The air was pure and still at dawn. As soon as the 
sun rose the swans flew off with Elise, away from the 
islet. The sea still ran high; it looked from where 
they were as if the white foam on the dark green water 
were millions of swans floating on the waves. 

When the sun rose higher, Elise saw before her half 
floating in the air great masses of ice, with shining 
glaciers on the heights. A palace was perched midway 
a mile in length, with one bold colonnade built above 
375 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


another. Beneath them swayed palm trees and gor- 
geous blossoms as big as mill wheels. She asked if this 
was the land to which she was going, but the swans 
shook their heads, because what she saw was a mirage ; 
the beautiful and every changing palace of Fata Mor- 
gana. No mortal dared enter it. Elise gazed at it, 
but as she gazed the palace, gardens and mountains 
melted away, and in their place stood twenty proud 
churches with their high towers and pointed windows. 
She seemed to hear the notes of the organ, but it was 
the sea she heard. When she got close to the seeming 
churches, they changed to a great navy sailing beneath 
her ; but it was only a sea mist floating over the waters. 
Yes, she saw constant changes passing before her eyes, 
and now she saw the real land she was bound to. 
Beautiful blue mountains rose before her with their 
cedar woods and palaces. Long before the sun went 
down, she sat among the hills in front of a big cave 
covered with delicate green creepers. It looked like a 
piece of embroidery. 

“Now we shall see what you will dream here to- 
night,’ ’ said the youngest brother, as he showed her 
where she was to sleep. 

“If only I might dream how I could deliver you,” 
she said, and this thought filled her mind entirely. 
She prayed earnestly to God for His help, and even in 
her sleep she continued her prayer. It seemed to her 
that she was flying up to Fata Morgana in her castle 
in the air. The fairy came towards her; she was 
charming and brilliant, and yet she was very like the 
376 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


old woman who gave her the berries in the wood, and 
told her about the swans with the golden crowns. 

“Your brothers can be delivered,” she said, “but 
have you courage and endurance enough for it? The 
sea is indeed softer than your hands, and it molds the 
hardest stones, but it does not feel the pain your fin- 
gers will feel. It has no heart, and does not suffer the 
pain and anguish you must feel. Do you see the sting- 
ing nettle I hold in my hand? Many of this kind grow 
round the cave where you sleep; only these and the 
ones which grow in the churchyards may he used. 
Mark that ! Those you may pluck although they will 
burn and blister your hands. Crush the nettles with 
your feet and you will have flax, and of this you must 
weave eleven coats of mail with long sleeves. Throw 
these over the eleven wild swans and the charm is 
broken! But remember that from the moment you 
begin this work, till it is finished, even if it takes years, 
you must not utter a word! The first word you say 
will fall like a murderer’s dagger into the hearts of 
your brothers. Their lives hang on your tongue. 
Mark this well !” 

She touched her hand at the same moment; it was 
like burning fire, and woke Elise. It was bright day- 
light, and close to where she slept lay a nettle like those 
in her dream. She fell upon her knees with thanks to 
God and left the cave to begin her work. 

She seized the horrid nettles with her delicate hands, 
and they burnt like fire; great blisters rose on her 
hands and arms, but she suffered it willingly if only it 
377 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


would deliver her beloved brothers. She crushed 
every nettle with her bare feet, and twisted it into 
green flax. 

When the sun went down and the brothers came back, 
they were alarmed at finding her mute ; they thought 
it was some new witchcraft exercised by their wicked 
step-mother. But when they saw her hands, they un- 
derstood that it was for their sakes; the youngest 
brother wept, and wherever his tears fell, she felt no 
more pain, and the blisters disappeared. 

She spent the whole night at her work, for she could 
not rest till she had delivered her dear brothers. All 
the following day while her brothers were away she sat 
solitary, but never had the time flown so fast. ' One 
coat of mail was finished and she began the next. 
Then a hunting-horn sounded among the mountains; 
she was much frightened ; the sound came nearer, and 
she heard dogs barking. In terror she rushed into the 
cave and tied the nettles she had collected and woven, 
into a bundle upon which she sat. 

At this moment a big dog bounded forward from the 
thicket, and another and another; they barked loudly 
and ran backwards and forwards. In a few minutes 
all the huntsmen were standing outside the cave, and 
the handsomest of them was the king of the country. 
He stepped up to Elise ; never had he seen so lovely a 
girl. 

“How came you here, beautiful child V 1 he said. 

Elise shook her head ; she dared not speak ; the sal- 
vation and the lives of her brothers depended upon her 
378 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


silence. She hid her hands under her apron, so that 
the king should not see what she suffered. 

“Come with me!” he said; “you cannot stay here. 
If you are as good as you are beautiful, I will dress 
you in silks and velvets, put a golden crown upon your 
head, and you shall live with me and have your home 
in my richest palace!” Then he lifted her upon his 
horse; she wept and wrung her hands, but the king 
said, * ‘ I only think of your happiness ; you will thank 
me one day for what I am doing!” Then he darted off 
across the mountains, holding her before him on his 
horse, and the huntsmen followed. 

When the sun went down, the royal city with 
churches and cupolas lay before them, and the king led 
her into the palace, where great fountains played in 
the marble halls, and where walls and ceilings were 
adorned with paintings, but she had no eyes for them, 
she only wept and sorrowed ; passively she allowed the 
women to dress her in royal robes, to twist pearls into 
her hair, and to draw gloves onto her blistered hands. 

She was dazzlingly lovely as she stood there in all 
her magnificence; the courtiers bent low before her, 
and the king wooed her as his bride, although the arch- 
bishop shook his head, and whispered that he feared 
the beautiful wood maiden was a witch, who had daz- 
zled their eyes and infatuated the king. 

The king refused to listen to him; he ordered the 
music to play, the richest food to be brought, and the 
loveliest girls to dance before her. She was led 
through scented gardens into gorgeous apartments, but 
379 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

nothing brought a smile to her lips, or into her eyes ; 
sorrow sat there like a heritage and a possession for 
all time. Last of all, the king opened the door of a 
little chamber close by the room where she was to sleep. 
It was adorned with costly green carpets, and made to 
exactly resemble the cave where he found her. On the 
floor lay the bundle of flax she had spun from the net- 
tles, and from the ceiling hung the shirt of mail which 
was already finished. One of the huntsmen had 
brought all these things away as curiosities. 

6 ‘ Here you may dream that you are back in your for- 
mer home!” said the king. ‘ 4 Here is the work upon 
which you were engaged ; in the midst of your splendor, 
it may amuse you to think of those times.’ ’ 

When Elise saw all these things so dear to her heart, 
a smile for the first time played upon her lips, and the 
blood rushed back to her cheeks. She thought of the 
deliverance of her brothers, and she kissed the king’s 
hand ; he pressed her to his heart, and ordered all the 
church bells to ring marriage peals. The lovely dumb 
girl from the woods was to be queen of the country. 

The archbishop whispered evil words into the ear 
of the king, but they did not reach his heart. The wed- 
ding was to take place, and the archbishop himself had 
to put the crown upon her head. In his anger he 
pressed the golden circlet so tightly upon her head as 
to give her a pain. But a heavier circlet pressed upon 
her heart, her grief for her brothers, so she thought 
nothing of the bodily pain. Her lips were sealed; a 
single word from her mouth would cost her brothers 
380 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


their lives, but her eyes were full of love for the good 
and handsome king, who did everything he could to 
please her. Every day she grew more and more at- 
tached to him, and longed to confide in him, tell him her 
sufferings ; but dumb she must remain, and in silence 
must bring her labor to completion. Therefore at 
night she stole away from his side into her secret 
chamber, which was decorated like a cave, and here she 
knitted one shirt after another. When she came to the 
seventh, all her flax was worked up; she knew that 
these nettles which she was to use grew in the church- 
yard, but she had to pluck them herself. How was she 
to get there 1 “ Oh, what is the pain of my fingers com- 
pared with the anguish of my heart V 9 she thought. 
“I must venture out; the good God will not desert 
me!” With as much terror in her heart, as if she were 
doing some evil deed, she stole down one night into the 
moonlit garden and through the long alleys out into the 
silent streets to the churchyard. It was very dark and 
lonely, but she picked the stinging nettles and hurried 
back to the palace with them. 

Only one person saw her, but that was the arch- 
bishop, who watched while others slept. Surely now 
all his bad opinions of the queen were justified ; all was 
not as it should be with her ; she must be a witch, and 
therefore she had bewitched the king and all the peo- 
ple. 

He told the king in the confessional what he had seen 
and what he feared. When those bad words passed his 
lips, the pictures of the saints shook their heads as if 
381 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


to say: “It is not so; Elise is innocent.” The arch- 
bishop, however, took it differently, and thought that 
they were bearing witness against her, and shaking 
their heads at her sin. Two big tears rolled down the 
king’s cheeks, and he went home with doubt in his 
heart. He pretended to sleep at night, but no quiet 
sleep came to his eyes. He perceived how Elise got 
up and went to her private closet. Hay by day his face 
grew darker ; Elise saw it but could not imagine what 
was the cause of it. It alarmed her, and what was she 
not already suffering in her heart because of her broth- 
ers? Her salt tears ran down upon the royal purple 
velvet; they lay upon it like sparkling diamonds, and 
all who saw their splendor wished to be queen. 

She had, however, almost reached the end of her 
labors; only one shirt of mail was wanting, but again 
she had no more flax and not a single nettle was left. 
Once more, for the last time, she must go to the church- 
yard to pluck a few handfuls. She thought with dread 
of the solitary walk and the darkness, but her will was 
as strong as her trust in God. 

Elise went, but the king and the archbishop followed 
her ; they saw her disappear within the grated gateway 
of the churchyard. The king was very sorrowful, be- 
cause he thought she must surely be a witch. 

“The people must judge her,” he groaned, and the 
people judged. “Let her be consumed in the glowing 
flames !” 

She was led away from her beautiful royal apart- 
ments to a dark damp dungeon, where the wind whis- 
382 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


tied through the grated window. Instead of velvet and 
silk they gave her the bundle of nettles she had gath- 
ered to lay her head upon. The hard burning shirts of 
mail were to be her covering, but they could have given 
her nothing more precious. 

She set to work again with many prayers to God. 
Outside her prison the street boys sang derisive songs 
about her, and not a soul comforted her with a kind 
word. 

Towards evening she heard the rustle of swans’ 
wings close to her window ; it was her youngest 
brother; at last he had found her. He sobbed aloud 
with joy although he knew that the coming night might 
be her last, but then her work was almost done and 
her brothers were there. 

The archbishop came to spend her last hours with 
her as he had promised the king. She shook her head 
at him, and by looks and gestures begged him to leave 
her. She had only this night in which to finish her 
work, or else all would be wasted, all — her pain, tears 
and sleepless nights. The archbishop went away with 
bitter words against her, but poor Elise knew that she 
was innocent, and she went on with her work. 

The little mice ran about the floor bringing nettles 
to her feet, so as to give what help they could, and a 
thrush sat on the grating of the window where he sang 
all night, as merrily as he could to keep up her cour- 
age. 

It was still only dawn, and the sun would not rise for 
an hour when the eleven brothers stood at the gate of 

383 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the palace, begging to be taken to the king. This could 
not be done, was the answer, for it was still night; the 
king was asleep and no one dared wake him. All their 
entreaties and threats were useless ; the watch turned 
out and even the king himself came to see what was 
the matter; but just then the sun rose, and no more 
brothers were to be seen, only eleven wild swans hover- 
ing over the palace. 

The whole populace streamed out of the town gates ; 
they were all anxious to see the witch burnt. A miser- 
able horse drew the cart in which Elise was seated. 
They had put upon her a smock of green sacking, and 
all her beautiful long hair hung loose from the lovely 
head. Her cheeks were deathly pale, and her lips 
moved softly, while her fingers unceasingly twisted the 
green yarn. Even on the way to her death she could 
not abandon her unfinished work. Ten shirts lay com- 
pleted at her feet — she labored away at the eleventh, 
amid the scoffing insults of the populace. 

4 ‘ Look at the witch how she mutters. She has never 
a book of psalms in her hands ; no, there she sits with 
her loathsome sorcery. Tear it away from her, into a 
thousand bits!” 

The crowd pressed around her to destroy her work, 
but just then eleven wild swans flew down and perched 
upon the cart, flapping their wings. The crowd gave 
way before them in terror. 

“ It is a sign from Heaven! She is innocent!” they 
whispered, but they dared not say it aloud. 

The executioner seized her by the hand, but she has- 

384 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


tily threw the eleven shirts over the swans who 
were immediately transformed to eleven handsome 
princes; but the youngest had a swan’s wing in place 
of an arm, for one sleeve was wanting to his shirt of 
mail ; she had not been able to finish it. 

‘ ‘ Now I may speak ! I am innocent. ’ ’ 

The populace who saw what had happened bowed 
down before her as if she had been a saint, but she sank 
lifeless in her brother’s arms; so great had been the 
strain, the terror and the suffering she had endured. 

“Yes, innocent she is indeed,” said the eldest 
brother, and he told them all that had happened. 

Whilst he spoke a wonderful fragrance spread 
around, as of millions of roses. Every faggot in the 
pile had taken root and shot out branches, and a great 
high hedge of red roses had arisen. At the very top 
was one pure white blossom; it shone like a star, and 
the king broke it off and laid it on Elise’s bosom, and 
she woke with joy and peace in her heart. 

All the church bells began to ring of their own ac- 
cord, and the singing birds flocked around them. 
Surely such a bridal procession went back to the palace 
as no king had ever seen before ! 


385 


THE GOBLIN AND THE HUCKSTER 


T HERE was once a poor student who lived in a gar- 
ret. And there was also a huckster to whom the 
house belonged, and who occupied the ground floor. A 
goblin lived with the huckster, because at Christmas 
he always had a large dish full of jam, with a great 
piece of butter in the middle. The huckster could af- 
ford this ; and therefore the goblin remained with the 
huckster, w T hich was very cunning of him. 

One evening the student came into the shop to buy 
candles and cheese. He obtained what he wished, and 
then the huckster and his wife nodded good-evening to 
him. The student nodded in return as he turned to 
leave, then suddenly stopped, and began reading the 
piece of paper in which the cheese was wrapped. It 
was a leaf torn out of an old book, one that ought not 
to have been torn up, for it was full of poetry. 

“Yonder lies more of the same sort,” said the huck- 
ster. “I gave an old woman a few coffee berries for 
it; you shall have the rest for sixpence, if you will.” 

“Indeed I will,” said the student; “give me the book 
instead of the cheese; I can eat my bread and butter 
without cheese. It would be a sin to tear up a book 
like this. You are a clever man, and a practical man; 
but you understand no more about poetry than that 
cask yonder . 3 r 


386 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


This was a very rude speech, especially against the 
cask; but the huckster and the student both laughed, 
for it was only said in fun. But the goblin felt very 
angry that any man should venture to say such things 
to a huckster who was a householder and sold the best 
butter. As soon as it was night, and the shop closed, 
and every one in bed except the student, the goblin 
stepped softly into the bedroom where the huckster’s 
wife slept, and took away her tongue, which, of course, 
she did not then want. Whatever object in the room 
he placed this tongue upon immediately received voice 
and speech, and was able to express its thoughts and 
feelings as readily as the lady herself could do. It 
could only be used by one object at a time, which was a 
good thing, as a number speaking at once would have 
caused great confusion. The goblin laid the tongue 
upon the cask, in which lay a quantity of old news- 
papers. 

‘ 1 Is it really true, ’ ’ he asked, i i that you do not know 
what poetry is ? 9 9 

“Of course I know,” replied the cask: “poetry is 
something that always stands in the corner of a news- 
paper, and is sometimes cut out ; and I may venture to 
affirm that I have more of it in me than the student has, 
and I am only a poor tub of the huckster’s.” 

Then the goblin placed the tongue on the coffee mill ; 
and how it did go to be sure ! Then he put it on the 
butter tub and cash box, and they all expressed the 
same opinion as the waste-paper tub; and a majority 
must always be respected. 

387 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Now I shall go and tell the student,’ * said the gob- 
lin ; and with these words he went quietly up the back 
stairs to the garret where the student lived. He had a 
candle burning still, and the goblin peeped through the 
keyhole and saw that he was reading in the torn book, 
which he had bought out of the shop. But how light 
the room was! From the book shot forth a ray of 
light which grew broad and full, like the stem of a tree, 
from which bright rays spread upward and over the 
student’s head. Each leaf was fresh, and each flower 
was like a beautiful female head; some with dark and 
sparkling eyes, and others with eyes that were won- 
derfully blue and clear. The fruit gleamed like stars, 
and the room was filled with sounds of beautiful music. 
The little goblin had never imagined, much less seen or 
heard of, any sight so glorious as this. He stood still 
on tiptoe, peeping in, till the light went out in the gar- 
ret. The student no doubt had blown out his candle 
and gone to bed; but the little goblin remained stand- 
ing there nevertheless, and listening to the music which 
still sounded on, soft and beautiful, a sweet cradle- 
song for the student, who had lain down to rest. 

“This is a wonderful place,” said the goblin; “I 
never expected such a thing. I should like to stay here 
with the student”; and then the little man thought it 
over, for he was a sensible little sprite. At last he 
sighed, “But the student has no jam!” So he went 
downstairs again into the huckster’s shop, and it was 
a good thing he got back when he did, for the cask had 
almost worn out the lady’s tongue; he had given a de- 
388 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


scription of all that he contained on one side, and was 
just about to turn himself over to the other side to 
describe what was there, when the goblin entered and 
restored the tongue to the lady. But from that time 
forward, the whole shop, from the cash box down to 
the pinewood logs, formed their opinions from that of 
the cask ; and they all had such confidence in him, and 
treated him with so much respect, that when the huck- 
ster read the criticisms on theatricals and art of an 
evening, they fancied it must all come from the cask. 

But after what he had seen, the goblin could no 
longer sit and listen quietly to the wisdom and under- 
standing downstairs; so, as soon as the evening light 
glimmered in the garret, he took courage, for it seemed 
to him as if the rays of light were strong cables, draw- 
ing him up, and obliging him to go and peep through 
the keyhole; and, while there, a feeling of vastness 
came over him such as we experience by the ever- 
moving sea, when the storm breaks forth; and it 
brought tears into his eyes. He did not himself know 
why he wept, yet a kind of pleasant feeling mingled 
with his tears. ‘ ‘ How wonderfully glorious it would be 
to sit with the student under such a tree!” but that 
was out of the question; he must be content to look 
through the keyhole, and be thankful for even that. 

There he stood on the cold landing, with the autumn 
wind blowing down upon him through the trap-door. 
It was very cold ; but the little creature did not really 
feel it, till the light in the garret went out, and the tones 
of music died away. Then how he shivered, and crept 
389 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


downstairs again to his warm corner, where it felt 
home-like and comfortable. And when Christmas 
came again, and brought the dish of jam and the great 
lump of butter, he liked the huckster best of all. 

Soon after, in the middle of the night, the goblin 
was awakened by a terrible noise and knocking against 
the window shutters and the house doors, and by the 
sound of the watchman’s horn; for a great fire had 
broken out, and the whole street appeared full of 
flames. Was it in their house, or a neighbor’s? No 
one could tell, for terror seized upon all. The huck- 
ster’s wife was so bewildered that she took her gold 
ear-rings out of her ears and put them in her pocket, 
that she might save something at least. The huckster 
ran to get his business papers, and the servant resolved 
to save her black silk mantle, which she had managed 
to buy. Each wished to keep the best things they had. 
The goblin had the same wish; for, with one spring, 
he was upstairs and in the student’s room, whom he 
found standing by the open window, and looking quite 
calmly at the fire, which was raging in the house of a 
neighbor opposite. The goblin caught up the wonder- 
ful book which lay on the table, and popped it into his 
red cap, which he held tightly with both hands. The 
greatest treasure in the house was saved; and he ran 
away with it to the roof, and seated himself on the 
chimney. The flames of the burning house opposite 
illuminated him as he sat, both hands pressed tightly 
over his cap, in which the treasure lay; and then he 
found out what feelings really reigned in his heart, and 
390 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


knew exactly which w T ay they tended. And yet, when 
the fire was extinguished, and the goblin again began to 
reflect, he hesitated, and said at last, “I must divide 
myself between the two; I cannot quite give up the 
huckster, because of the jam.” 

And this is a representation of human nature. We 
are like the goblin ; we all go to visit the huckster ‘ 4 be- 
cause of the jam.” 


391 


THE TINDER BOX 


A SOLDIER came marching along the high road. 

One, two! One, two! He had his knapsack on 
his back and his sword at his side, for he had been to 
the wars, and he was on his way home now. He met 
an old witch on the road ; she was so ugly, her lower lip 
hung right down onto her chin. 

She said, 4 4 Good-evening, soldier! What a nice 
sword you’ve got, and such a big knapsack; you are a 
real soldier! You shall have as much money as ever 
you like!” 

4 4 Thank you kindly, you old witch ! ’ ’ said the soldier. 

4 4 Do you see that big tree?” said the witch, pointing 
to a tree close by. 4 4 It is hollow inside ! Climb up to 
the top and you will see a hole into which you can let 
yourself down, right down under the tree! I will tie 
a rope round your waist so that I can haul you up again 
when you call ! 9 9 

4 4 What am I to do down under the tree ? ’ 9 asked the 
soldier. 

4 4 Fetch money!” said the witch. “You must know 
that when you get down to the bottom of the tree you 
will find yourself in a wide passage; it’s quite light 
there, for there are over a hundred blazing lamps. 
You will see three doors which you can open, for the 
392 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


keys are there. If you go into the first room you will 
see a big box in the middle of the floor. A dog is sit- 
ting on the top of it, and he has eyes as big as saucers, 
but you needn’t mind that. I will give you my blue- 
checked apron, which you can spread out on the floor ; 
then go quickly forward, take up the dog and put him 
on my apron, open the box and take out as much money 
as ever you like. It is all copper, but if you like silver 
better, go into the next room. There you will find a 
dog with eyes as big as millstones; but never mind 
that; put him on my apron and take the money. If 
you prefer gold you can have it too, and as much as 
you can carry, if you go into the third room. But the 
dog sitting on that box has eyes each as big as the 
Round Tower. He is a dog, indeed, as you may imag- 
ine ! But don’t let it trouble you ; you only have to put 
him on to my apron and then he won’t hurt you, and 
you can take as much gold out of the box as you like!” 

“ That’s not so bad!” said the soldier. “But what 
am I to give you, old witch? For you’ll want some- 
thing, I’ll be bound.” 

“No,” said the witch, “not a single penny do I want; 
I only want you to bring me an old tinder box that my 
grandmother forgot the last time she was down there !” 

“Well! tie the rope round my waist!” said the sol- 
dier. 

“Here it is,” said the witch, “and here is my blue- 
checked apron. ’ ’ 

Then the soldier climbed up the tree, let himself slide 
down the hollow trunk, and found himself, as the witch 
393 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


had said, in the wide passage where the many hundred 
lamps were burning. 

Now he opened the first door. Ugh! There sat the 
dog with eyes as big as saucers staring at him. 

“You are a nice fellow !” said the soldier, as he put 
him onto the witch’s apron, and took out as many pen- 
nies as he could cram into his pockets. Then he shut 
the box, and put the dog on the top of it again, and 
went into the next room. Hallo ! there sat the dog with 
eyes as big as millstones. 

“You shouldn’t stare at me so hard; you might get 
a pain in your eyes!” Then he put the dog on the 
apron, but when he saw all the silver in the box he 
threw away all the coppers, and stuffed his pockets and 
his knapsack with silver. Then he went into the third 
room. Oh ! how horrible ! that dog really had two eyes 
as big as the Round Tower, and they rolled round and 
round like wheels. 

“Good-evening!” said the soldier, saluting, for he 
had never seen such a dog in his life ; but after looking 
at him for a bit he thought, “that will do,” and then 
he lifted him down on to the apron and opened the 
chest. Preserve us! What a lot of gold! He could 
buy the whole of Copenhagen with it, and all the sugar 
pigs from the cake-woman, all the tin soldiers, whips, 
and rocking-horses in the world ! That was money in- 
deed! Now the soldier threw away all the silver he 
had filled his pockets and his knapsack with, and put 
gold in its place. Yes, he crammed all his pockets, 
his knapsack, his cap, and his boots so full that he 
394 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


could hardly walk! Now, he really had got a lot of 
money. He put the dog back on to the box, shut the 
door, and shouted up through the tree, “Haul me up, 
you old witch !” 

“Have you got the tinder box?” 

“Oh! to be sure!” said the soldier. “I had quite 
forgotten it.” And he went back to fetch it. The 
witch hauled him up, and there he was standing on the 
high road again with his pockets, boots, knapsack, and 
cap full of gold. 

“What do you want the tinder box for?” asked the 
soldier. 

“That’s no business of yours,” said the witch. 
“You’ve got the money; give me the tinder box!” 

“Kubbish!” said the soldier. “Tell me directly 
what you want with it, or I will draw my sword and cut 
off your head.” 

“I won’t!” said the witch. 

Then the soldier cut off her head; there she lay! 
But he tied all the money up in her apron, slung it on 
his back like a pack, put the tinder box in his pocket, 
and marched off to the town. 

It was a beautiful town, and he went straight to the 
finest hotel, ordered the grandest rooms and all the 
food he liked best, because he was a rich man now that 
he had so much money. 

Certainly the servant who had to clean his boots 
thought they were funny old things for such a rich 
gentleman, but he had not had time yet to buy any new 
ones ; the next day he bought new boots and fine clothes. 
395 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The soldier now became a fine gentleman, and the 
people told him all about the grand things in the town, 
and about their king, and what a lovely princess his 
daughter was. 

“ Where is she to be seen?” asked the soldier. 

“You can’t see her at all!” they all said; “she lives 
in a great copper castle surrounded with walls and 
towers. Nobody but the king dare go in and out, for 
it has been prophesied that she will marry a common 
soldier, and the king doesn’t like that!” 

“I should like to see her well enough!” thought the 
soldier. But there was no way of getting leave for 
that. 

He now led a very merry life; went to theaters, 
drove about in the King’s Park, and gave away a lot 
of money to poor people, which was very nice of him ; 
for he remembered how disagreeable it used to be not 
to have a penny in his pocket. Now he was rich, wore 
fine clothes, and had a great many friends, who all 
said what a nice fellow he was — a thorough gentleman 
— and he liked to be told that. 

But as he went on spending money every day and 
his store was never renewed, he at last found himself 
with only two pence left. Then he was obliged to move 
out of his fine rooms. He had to take a tiny little attic 
up under the roof, clean his own boots, and mend them 
himself with a darning needle. None of his friends 
went to see him, because there were far too many stairs. 

One dark evening when he had not even enough 
money to buy a candle with, he suddenly remembered 
396 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

that there was a little bit in the old tinder box he had 
brought out of the hollow tree, when the witch helped 
him down. He got out the tinder box with the candle 
end in it and struck fire, but as the sparks flew out 
from the flint the door burst open and the dog with 
eyes as big as saucers, which he had seen down under 
the tree, stood before him and said, “What does my 
lord command ?” 

“By heaven !” said the soldier, “this is a nice kind 
of tinder box, if I can get whatever I want like this ! 
Get me some money, ’ ’ he said to the dog, and away it 
went. 

It was back in a twinkling with a bag full of pennies 
in its mouth. 

Now the soldier saw what a treasure he had in the 
tinder box. If he struck once, the dog which sat on 
the box of copper came ; if he struck twice, the dog on 
the silver box came, and if he struck three times, the 
one from the box of gold. 

He now moved down to the grand rooms and got his 
fine clothes again, and then all his friends knew him 
once more, and liked him as much as ever. 

Then he suddenly began to think: After all, it’s 
a curious thing that no man can get a sight of the 
princess! Every one says she is so beautiful! But 
what is the good of that when she always has to be 
shut up in that big copper palace with all the towers. 
Can I not somehow manage to see her? Where is 
my tinder box? Then he struck the flint, and, whisk, 
came the dog with eyes as big as saucers. 

397 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“It certainly is the middle of the night,’ ’ said the 
soldier, “but I am very anxious to see the princess, 
if only for a single moment.” 

The dog was out of the door in an instant, and before 
the soldier had time to think about it, he w r as back 
again with the princess. There she was, fast asleep 
on the dog’s back, and she was so lovely that anybody 
could see that she must be a real princess! The sol- 
dier could not help it, but he was obliged to kiss her, 
for he was a true soldier. 

Then the dog ran back again with the princess, but 
in the morning, when the king and queen were having 
breakfast, the princess said that she had had such a 
wonderful dream about a dog and a soldier. She had 
ridden on the dog’s back, and the soldier had kissed her. 

“That’s a pretty tale,” said the queen. 

After this an old lady-in-waiting had to sit by her 
bed at night to see if this was really a dream, or what 
it could be. 

The soldier longed so intensely to see the princess 
again that at night the dog came to fetch her. He took 
her up and ran off with her as fast as he could, but 
the old lady-in-waiting put on her goloshes and ran 
just as fast behind them ; when she saw that they dis- 
appeared into a large house, she thought now I know 
where it is, and made a big cross with chalk on the 
gate. Then she went home and lay down, and pres- 
ently the dog came back, too, with the princess. When 
he saw that there was a cross on the gate, he took a 
bit of chalk, too, and made crosses on all the gates 
398 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


in the town ; now this was very clever of him, for the 
lady-in-waiting could not possibly find the gate when 
there were crosses on all the gates. 

Early next morning the king, the queen, the lady-in- 
waiting, and all the court officials went to see where 
the princess had been. 

‘ ‘ There it is,” said the king, when he saw the first 
door with the cross on it. 

“No, my dear husband, it is there,” said the queen, 
who saw another door with a cross on it. 

“But there is one, and there is another!” they all 
cried out. 

They soon saw that it was hopeless to try and find it. 

Now the queen was a very clever woman; she knew 
more than how to drive in a chariot. She took her 
big gold scissors and cut up a large piece of silk into 
small pieces, and made a pretty little bag, which she 
filled with fine grains of buckwheat. She then tied 
it on to the back of the princess, and when that was 
done she cut a little hole in the bag, so that the grains 
could drop out all the way wherever the princess 
went. 

At night the dog came again, took the princess on his 
back and ran off with her to the soldier, who was so 
fond of her that he longed to be a prince, so that he 
might have her for his wife. 

The dog never noticed how the grain dropped out 
all along the road from the palace to the soldier’s 
window, where he ran up the wall with the princess. 

In the morning the king and the queen easily saw 

399 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


where their daughter had been, and they seized the 
soldier and threw him into the dungeons. 

There he lay! Oh! how dark and tiresome it was, 
and then one day they said to him, “ To-morrow you 
are to be hanged.’ ’ It was not amusing to be told 
that, especially as he had left his tinder box behind 
him at the hotel. 

In the morning he could see through the bars in the 
little window that the people were hurrying out of the 
town to see him hanged. He heard the drums, and 
saw the soldiers marching along. All the world was 
going; among them was a shoemaker’s boy in his 
leather apron and slippers. He was in such a hurry 
that he lost one of his slippers, and it fell close under 
the soldier’s window where he was peeping out through 
the bars. 

“I say, you boy! Don’t be in such a hurry,” said 
the soldier to him. “Nothing will happen till I get 
there! But if you will run to the house where I used 
to live, and fetch me my tinder box, you shall have 
a penny! You must put your best foot foremost !” 

The boy was only too glad to have the penny, and 
tore off to get the tinder box, gave it to the soldier, 
and — yes, now we shall hear. 

Outside the town a high scaffold had been raised, and 
the soldiers were drawn up round about it, as well as 
crowds of the townspeople. The king and the queen 
sat upon a beautiful throne exactly opposite the judge 
and all the councilors. 

The soldier mounted the ladder, but when they were 

400 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


about to put the rope round his neck, he said that be- 
fore undergoing his punishment a criminal was always 
allowed the gratification of a harmless wish, and he 
wanted very much to smoke a pipe, as it would be his 
last pipe in this world. 

The king would not deny him this, so the soldier 
took out his tinder box and struck fire, one, twice, three 
times, and there were all the dogs. The one with eyes 
like saucers, the one with eyes like millstones, and the 
one whose eyes were as big as the Round Tower. 

4 ‘ Help me! Save me from being hanged !” cried 
the soldier. 

And then the dogs rushed at the soldiers and the 
councilors ; they took one by the legs, and another by 
the nose, and threw them up many fathoms into the 
air; and when they fell down, they were broken all 
to pieces. 

“I won't!” cried the king, but the biggest dog took 
both him and the queen and threw them after all the 
others. Then the soldiers became alarmed, and the 
people shouted, “Oh! good soldier, you shall be our 
king, and marry the beautiful princess ! 9 1 

Then they conducted the soldier to the king’s chariot, 
and all three dogs danced along in front of him and 
shouted “Hurrah!” The boys all put their fingers in 
their mouths and whistled, and the soldiers presented 
arms. The princess came out of the copper palace and 
became queen, which pleased her very much. The wed- 
ding took place in a week, and the dogs all had seats 
at the table, where they sat staring with all their eyes. 
401 


THE TRAVELING COMPANIONS 


P OOR John was very sacl, his father was ill and he 
knew that he could not recover. There was no 
one else in the little room beside these two; it was 
quite late at night and the lamp had nearly burnt out. 

“You have been a good son, John,” said the dying 
man. “I am sure the Lord will help you on in the 
world!” and he fixed his mild, gentle eyes upon his 
son, drew a long breath and passed away so quietly, 
he only seemed to be asleep. John wept bitterly, for 
now he had nobody in the world belonging to him, 
neither father nor mother, sister nor brother. Poor 
John! he knelt by the bedside and kissed his dead 
father’s hands and shed many tears; but at last his 
eyes closed, and he fell asleep with his head against 
the hard bed-post. 

He had a wonderful dream ; he saw the sun and moon 
bowing before him, and he saw his father quite well 
and strong again; he laughed as he always used to 
laugh when he was very pleased. A lovely girl with a 
golden crown on her long, beautiful hair, stretched out 
her hand to John, and his father said, “See what a 
beautiful bride you have won. She is the loveliest 
maiden in the world.” Then he woke up, and all the 
beautiful things were gone ; his father lay on the bed 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


dead and cold, and there was no one else there, poor 
John! 

The dead man was buried in the following week; 
John walked close behind the coffin, and he could no 
longer see his good father who had loved him so much. 
He heard the earth fall upon the coffin lid, and watched 
it till only a corner was left, and then the last shovel- 
ful fell upon it, and it was entirely hidden. He was so 
miserable, he felt as if his heart would break. 

A beautiful psalm was being sung which brought the 
tears into his eyes, he wept, and this brought him re- 
lief. The sun was shining brightly on the green trees, 
and seemed to say, “Do not be so sad, John! See how 
blue the sky is ; your poor father is up there, and he 
will pray to God that all may be well with you. ’ 9 

“I will always be good!” said John, “and then I 
shall go to Heaven some time to my father, and what 
joy it will be to see each other again. How much I 
shall have to tell him ; and he will have so much to show 
me, and to teach me about the bliss of Heaven, just as 
he used to teach me here on earth. Oh, what joy it 
will be!” 

John saw it all so vividly that he smiled at the 
thought, although the tears still ran down his cheeks. 
The little birds in the chestnut tree twittered with joy 
although they had been at the funeral, but they knew 
that the dead man was in Heaven, and that he now had 
wings larger and more beautiful than their own. They 
knew, too, that he was happy, because he had been a 
good man here on earth, and they were glad of it. 
403 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


John saw them fly away from the trees out into the 
world, and he felt a strong desire to fly away with 
them. But first he made a wooden cross to put on his 
father’s grave; when he brought it along in the eve- 
ning he found the grave covered with sand and decor- 
ated with flowers. This had been done by strangers 
for love of his father. 

Early next morning John packed his little bundle 
and stowed away his sole inheritance in his belt ; it con- 
sisted of fifty dollars and a few silver coins, and with 
these he started out into the world. But first he went 
to the churchyard to his father’s grave, where he knelt 
and said the Lord’s prayer, and then added, “ Farewell, 
dear father ! I will always be good, and then you won’t 
be afraid to pray to the good God that all may go 
well with me ! ’ ’ 

The fields that John passed through were full of 
bright flowers nodding their heads in the warm sun- 
shine as much as to say, “Welcome into the fields! Is 
it not lovely here?” but John turned round once more 
to look at the old church where he had been baptized, 
and where he had gone every Sunday and sung the 
psalms with his good old father. On looking back he 
saw standing in one of the loop-holes of the tower the 
little church-Nisse with his pointed red cap, shading 
his eyes from the sun with his arm. John nodded good- 
by to him, and the little Nisse waved his hand and 
kissed his fingers to him to show that he was sending 
his good wishes for a pleasant journey. 

John now began to think how many beautiful things 

404 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


he would see in the great beautiful world before him, 
and he went on and on till he found himself much fur- 
ther away than he had ever been before. He did not 
know the towns through which he passed, or the people 
he met, he was quite among strangers. The first night 
he had to sleep under a haystack in a field, for he had 
no other bed. But he thought it was lovely, no king 
could have had a better. The field by the river, the 
haystack, and the deep blue sky above made a charm- 
ing room. The green grass dotted with red and white 
flowers was the carpet, the elders and the rose bushes 
were growing bouquets, and he had the whole river for 
a bath, with its clear fresh water, and the rushes which 
nodded their heads bidding him both “Good-night” 
and “Good-morning.” The moon was a great night 
light high up under the blue ceiling, one which would 
never set fire to the curtains. John could sleep quite 
quietly without fear, and this he also did. He only 
woke when the sun was high up in the sky and all the 
little birds were singing, “Good-morning! Good- 
morning ! Are you not up yet ? ’ 9 

The bells were ringing for church; people were on 
their way to hear the parson pray and preach, and 
John went with them. He sang a psalm and listened 
to the word of God, and he felt as if he were in his own 
old church, where he had been christened, and where 
he had sung the psalms with his father. There were 
a great many graves in the churchyard, and some of 
them were overgrown with long grass. John thought 
of his father’s grave, which some day might look like 
405 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


these when he was no longer there to weed and trim 
it. So he knelt down, pulled up the long grass, and 
raised the wooden crosses which had fallen down. He 
picked up the wreaths which had been blown away and 
replaced them, thinking that perhaps some one would 
do the same for his father’s grave now he was away. 

An old beggar was standing outside the churchyard 
leaning on a crutch, and John gave him the few silver 
coins he had left, and then went happily and cheerfully 
on into the wide world. Towards evening a fearful 
storm came on and John hurried to get under shelter, 
but it soon grew dark. At last he reached a little 
church standing on a solitary hill ; the door was ajar, 
and he slipped in to take shelter till the storm was 
over. 

“I will sit down here in a corner till the storm is 
over,” he said; “I am quite tired and in need of a 
rest!” so he sat down, folded his hands and said his 
evening prayer; and before he was aware he was asleep 
and dreaming, while it thundered and lightened out- 
side. 

When he woke up it was the middle of the night and 
the storm was over : the moon was shining in upon him 
through the windows. In the middle of the aisle stood 
an open coffin with a dead man in it who was not yet 
buried. John was not at all afraid, for he had a good 
conscience, and he knew that the dead can do no harm ; 
it is living wicked people who do harm to others. 
There were two such bad men standing by the coffin. 
They had come to do harm to this poor dead man; to 
406 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


turn him out of his coffin and throw the body outside the 
church door. 

“Why do you want to do this?” asked John. “It 
is very wicked and disgraceful; let the man rest for 
Heaven’s sake!” 

“Oh, nonsense!” replied the wretches; “he cheated 
us, he owed us money which he could not pay, and now 
he has gone and died into the bargain, and we shall 
never see a penny, so we want to revenge ourselves. 
He shall lie like a dog outside the church doors ! ’ ’ 

“I have not got more than fifty dollars,” said John; 
“it is my whole inheritance, but I will gladly give it 
to you if you will honestly promise me to leave the poor 
dead man in peace. I shall manage very well without 
the money, I have good strong limbs, and the Lord 
will always help me.” 

“Well,” said the bad men, “if you are ready to pay 
his debt like that, we won’t do him any harm, we can 
assure you!” 

And they took the money John gave them, laughing 
at him for being such a simpleton, and then they went 
away. John put the body straight again, folded the 
hands, said good-by, and went away through the woods 
in a state of great satisfaction. Around him, where the 
moon pierced through the trees, he saw numbers of 
little elves playing about merrily. They did not dis- 
turb themselves on his account, they knew very well 
that he was a good innocent person, and it is only bad 
people who never see the fairies. Some of them were 
no bigger than one’s finger, and they had long yellow 
407 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


hair fastened up with golden combs. They swung hand 
in hand upon the big dewdrops which covered the 
leaves and the long grass. Sometimes the dewdrops 
rolled down, and then they fell with it down among the 
grass, and this caused great noise and laughter among 
the little folks. It was very amusing. They sang all 
the pretty little songs John used to know when he was 
a little boy. Great spiders with silver crowns upon 
their heads spun their webs from branch to branch 
like bridges connecting palaces. They glittered in the 
moonlight like glass where the dew had fallen on them. 
They went on with their sport till the sun rose, and the 
little creatures crept away into the flower buds, and 
the wind caught the bridges and palaces and swept 
them away into the air like cobwebs. 

John had just got through the wood, when a strong 
man’s voice called out behind him, “ Hallo, comrade! 
whither away ? ’ ’ 

“Out into the wide world,” said John. “I have 
neither father nor mother, I am only a poor lad, but 
the Lord will protect me.” 

“I am going out into the wide world too!” said the 
stranger; “shall we go together?” 

“By all means,” said John, and so they walked on 
together. 

They soon grew much attached to each other, for 
they were both good men, but John soon saw that the 
stranger was much wiser than himself, he had been 
round the greater part of the world, and he was well 
able to describe all that he had seen. 

408 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


The sun was already high when they sat down under 
a big tree to eat their breakfast and just then an old 
woman came up. She was very old and bent, and 
walked with a crutch; she had a bundle of sticks she 
had picked up in the wood on her back, and her apron 
was fastened up, and John could see in it three bundles 
or faggots of dried fern and some willow twigs. When 
she got near them, her foot slipped and she fell with 
a loud shriek ; the poor old woman had broken her leg. 

John wanted to carry her home, but the stranger 
opened his knapsack, and took out a little pot of salve, 
which he said would make her leg well directly, and 
she would be able to walk home as well as if she had 
never broken it. But in payment for it he wanted the 
three bundles of fern she had in her apron. 

‘ ‘That is very good payment,” said the old woman, 
nodding her head rather oddly; she did not want to 
part with her three bundles of fern, but it was not so 
pleasant to lie there with a broken leg, so she gave 
him the faggots. As soon as he had rubbed on the 
salve, the old woman got up and walked away faster 
than she had been able to do before. This was all the 
effect of the salve ; but no such ointment as this was to 
be had at any chemist’s. 

“ Whatever do you want with those bundles of fern?” 
said John to his companion. 

4 ‘They make very good birch rods, and they are 
just what I like. I am a very queer fellow, you know ! 9 9 

Then they walked on for a good bit. 

“What a storm is drawing up there!” said John, 

409 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


pointing before him; “ those are terribly black 
clouds.” 

“No,” said his fellow-traveler, “those are not clouds, 
they are mountains, beautiful high mountains, where 
you can get right above the clouds into the fresh air. 
It is splendid up there! To-morrow we shall just 
reach them.” 

They were not so near, however, as they seemed to 
be; it took them a whole day to reach the mountains, 
where the dark forests grew right up towards the sky, 
and where there were great bowlders as big as houses, 
or even towns. It would be a heavy task to climb over 
all these, and so John and his fellow traveler went 
into an inn to rest and refresh themselves before they 
made the ascent next day. There were a number of 
people in the parlor at the inn, for there was a man 
showing off some marionettes. He had just put up 
his little theater, and the people were sitting round 
waiting for the play to begin. A fat old butcher had 
taken up his place in the middle of the front row, and 
he had a ferocious looking bulldog by his side, and it 
sat staring just as hard as anybody else. 

Then the comedy began, and it was a very pretty 
play, with a King and a Queen in it. They sat on a 
velvet throne with golden crowns on their heads, and 
trains, for they could well afford it. The prettiest 
little wooden dolls stood by all the doors, they had 
bright glass eyes and big whiskers, and they were em- 
ployed in opening and shutting the doors to let in the 
fresh air. It was a capital play, and not at all a 
410 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


tragic one, but just as the Queen got up to walk across 
the floor — Heaven knows what idea entered the bull- 
dog's head, but finding that the butcher was not hold- 
ing him, he made a great leap forward right into the 
middle of the theater and seized the Queen by the 
slender waist, and crunched her head up. It was a 
terrible disaster ! 

The poor showman was quite frightened and also 
very sad about his Queen, for she was his prettiest 
doll, and the horrid bulldog had entirely ruined her. 
But w T hen all the people had gone away John’s fellow- 
traveler said he could make her all right again, and 
he took out his little pot and rubbed some of the same 
ointment on to the doll which had cured the poor old 
woman who had broken her leg. As soon as ever the 
doll had been rubbed over with the ointment she became 
whole again, nay, she could even move all her limbs 
herself ; it was no longer necessary to pull the wires. 
The doll was exactly like a living being, except that 
she could not speak. The showman was delighted, be- 
cause now he did not have to hold the wires at all for 
this doll, as she could dance quite well by herself, and 
none of the others could do that. 

At night, when everybody had gone to bed, some one 
was heard sighing most dolefully, and it went on so 
long that everybody got up to see who it could be. 
The showman went along to his theater, because that 
was where the sighs seemed to come from. All the 
wooden dolls were lying in a heap; it was the King 
and his guards who were sighing so dismally and star- 
411 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

ing with their glass eyes. They all wanted to be rubbed 
with some of the same ointment as the Queen, so that 
they might be able to move their limbs as well as she 
did. She threw herself down on her knees and 
stretched out her hands with her golden crown, saying, 
“Pray, take this, but do, please, rub some of the oint- 
ment on to my consort and the courtiers ! ’ ’ The poor 
man who owned the theater and the marionettes could 
not help crying, he was so sorry for them. He im- 
mediately promised the traveling-companion that he 
would give him all the money he possessed if he would 
only anoint five or six of the prettiest dolls. But the 
traveling-companion said that he did not want any- 
thing except the big sword that the showman wore at 
his side, and as soon as it was given him he anointed 
six dolls. They began to dance about at once so 
prettily that all the real, living girls who saw them 
began to dance too. The coachman and the cook, the 
waiter and the chambermaid, and all the strangers 
joined in, as well as the shovel and the tongs : but those 
two fell on the top of each other just as they were 
making their first bound. It was indeed a lively night ! 

Next morning John and his traveling-companion 
went away from them all, up the high mountains and 
through the great pine forests. They got so high that 
at last the church towers far below looked like little 
red berries among all the green ; and they could see far 
away for many, many miles, to places where they had 
never been! John had never seen so many of the 
beauties of this beautiful world all together before. 
412 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The warm sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, 
and the huntsman was heard winding his horn among 
the mountains; it was all so peaceful and sweet that 
it brought tears to his eyes, and he could not help 
exclaiming, “ Great God, I could fall down and kiss 
the hem of Thy garment out of gratitude for all Thy 
good gifts to us!” 

His traveling-companion also stood with folded 
hands looking at the woods and the villages basking in 
the warm sunshine. They heard a wonderful and beau- 
tiful sound above their heads, and looked up; a great 
white swan was hovering in the air above them. It 
sang as they had never heard any bird sing before; 
but the song became fainter and fainter, and the swan 
gradually sank down before their feet, where it lay 
dead — the beautiful bird. 

“Two such beautiful wings,” said the traveling-com- 
panion. “Such big white ones are worth a lot of 
money; I will take them with me. Now, you see what 
a good thing it was that I got this sword !” and with one 
blow he struck off both the wings of the dead swan, 
for he meant to keep them. 

They traveled many, many miles over the mountains, 
till at last they saw before them a great town with 
over a hundred towers, which glittered like silver in 
the sunshine. In the middle of the town was a splen- 
did marble palace, thatched with red gold, in which the 
King lived. 

John and his traveling-companion did not want to 
go into the town at once ; they stopped at an inn out- 
413 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


side to change their clothes, as they wished to look 
their best when they walked through the streets. The 
host told them that the King was such a good old man, 
he never did any harm to any one ; but his daughter — 
Heaven preserve us! she was a wicked Princess. 

Beauty she had more than enough of ; nobody could 
be so beautiful and fascinating as she was, but what 
was the good of it when she was such a bad, wicked 
witch, who was the cause of so many handsome 
Princes having lost their lives. She had given per- 
mission to anybody to court her. Any one who would 
might come, were he Prince or beggar — it was all the 
same to her; he only had to guess three riddles she 
asked him. If he could answer them, she would marry 
him, and he would be king over all the land when her 
father died ; but if he failed to answer them, he either 
had to be hanged or to have his head cut off. So bad 
and so wicked was this beautiful Princess. Her father, 
the old King, was much grieved by it, but he could not 
prevent her from being so wicked, for he had once 
said that he would never have anything to do with her 
lovers; she must deal with them herself as she liked. 
Every Prince who had yet come to guess the riddles so 
as to gain the Princess had failed, and so he had either 
been hanged or had his head cut off. Each one had 
been warned, and he need not have paid his addresses 
unless he had liked. The old King was so grieved by 
all this trouble and misery that he and his soldiers 
spent a whole day every year on their knees praying 
that the Princess might become good. But she had 

m 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

no intention of so doing. The old women who drank 
brandy dyed it black before they drank it ; that was 
their way of mourning, and what more could they 
do! 

“That vile Princess !” said John, “she ought to be 
well birched, that would be the best thing for her. If 
I were the King I would make the blood run!” Just 
then they heard all the people in the streets shouting 
“Hurrah!” The Princess was passing, and she was 
really so beautiful that when they saw her everybody 
forgot how wicked she was, and so they all shouted 
‘ * Hurrah . 9 9 Twelve beautiful maidens clothed in white 
silk, with golden tulips in their hands, rode twelve coal- 
black horses by her side. The Princess herself was 
on a snow-white horse, adorned with diamonds and 
rubies ; her riding dress was of pure gold, and the whip 
in her hand looked like a sunbeam. The golden crown 
on her head seemed to be made of little twinkling stars 
from the sky; and her cloak was sewn all over with 
thousands of beautiful butterflies 9 wings. But she was 
far, far more beautiful than all her clothes. 

When John saw her his face became as red as blood, 
and he could hardly say a single word; the Princess 
was the image of the beautiful girl with the golden 
crown whom he had seen in his dream, the night his 
father died. He thought her so beautiful that he at 
once fell in love with her. It certainly could not be 
true, he thought, that she could be a wicked witch who 
allowed people to be hanged or executed if they could 
not guess her riddles. “Any one may pay his ad- 
415 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


dresses to her, even the poorest peasant : I will go to 
the Palace myself! I can’t help going!” 

They all said that he ought not to go as he would 
only meet the same fate as the others. His traveling- 
companion also advised him against going, but John 
thought he would be sure to get on all right; so he 
brushed his coat and his shoes, washed his hands and 
face, and combed his yellow hair, and then went quite 
alone to the town and straight up to the Palace. 

“Come in,” said the old King when John knocked at 
the door. He opened it, and the old King in his dress- 
ing-gown and slippers came towards him. He had his 
gold crown on his head, the scepter in one hand, and 
the golden ball in the other. “Wait a moment,” said 
he, tucking the ball under his arm so as to be able to 
shake hands with John. But as soon as he heard that 
John was a suitor he began to cry so much that both 
the ball and the scepter rolled on to the floor, and he 
had to wipe his eyes with his dressing-gown. The poor 
old King ! 

“Leave it alone!” said he; “you are sure to fail just 
like the others, I am convinced of it!” Then he led 
John into the Princess’ pleasure garden, which was a 
ghastly sight. From every tree hung three or four 
King’s sons who had come to court the Princess, but 
who had all been unable to guess her riddles. With 
every gust of wind the bones rattled so that all the 
little birds were frightened away and they never dared 
come into the garden; all the flowers were tied up to 
human bones in the place of stakes, and human skulls 
416 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


grinned out of every flower pot. It was indeed a nice 
garden for a Princess. 

“Here you see,” said the old King, “your fate will 
be just the same as all these. Do give it up. It makes 
me most unhappy, I take it so much to heart.” John 
kissed the old King’s hand and said he thought it would 
be all right for he was so fond of the beautiful Princess. 

Just then the Princess came herself with all her 
ladies driving into the Palace gardens, so they went 
up to her and said “Good-morning.” She was cer- 
tainly very beautiful as she shook hands with John, 
and he was more in love with her than ever ; it was im- 
possible that she could be the wicked witch people said 
she was. They all went up into the hall and the little 
pages brought jam and gingerbread nuts to them ; but 
the old King was so sad that he could eat nothing, be- 
sides the ginger nuts were too hard for him. 

It was now decided that J ohn was to come up to the 
Palace the next morning, when the judges and all the 
council would be assembled to hear if he could guess 
the first riddle. If he succeeded the first time he would 
have to come twice more, but nobody yet had ever 
guessed the first riddle — he had lost his life at once. 

John was not a bit alarmed about himself ; he was de- 
lighted and only thought of the lovely Princess. He 
felt quite certain that the good God would help him, 
but in what manner it would be he had not the slight- 
est idea, nor did he trouble his head about it. He 
danced along the highway, when he went back to the inn 
where his traveling-companion was waiting for him. 
417 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

John was never tired of telling him how charming the 
Princess had been towards him, and how lovely she was. 
He was longing for the next day to come, when he was 
to go to the Palace to try his luck with the riddles. 
But his traveling-companion shook his head and was 
quite sad. 

“ I am so fond of you,” he said; “we might have 
been companions for a long time yet, and now I shall 
lose you directly! My poor dear John, I could weep 
over you, but I will not spoil your pleasure on the last 
evening we perhaps may spend together. We will be 
merry, as merry as possible ; to-morrow when you are 
gone I can be sad!” 

Everybody in the town had heard directly that a 
new suitor had come for the Princess, and there was 
general mourning. The theater was closed, and all the 
cakewomen tied black crape round the sugar pigs. 
The King and the priests were praying on their knees 
in the churches, and there was universal grief, for they 
all knew that there could be no better fate in store 
for John than for the other suitors. 

Late in the evening the traveling-companion made a 
great bowl of punch, and said to John that they must 
be merry now and drink the Princess’ health. But 
when John had drunk two glasses he became so sleepy 
that he could not hold up his head, and he fell fast 
asleep. His traveling-companion lifted him quietly up 
from his chair, and laid him on his bed. As soon as it 
was dark he took the two big wings which he had cut 
off the swan, and tied them on to his shoulders ; then 
418 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


he put the biggest bunch of twigs he had got from the 
old woman who had broken her leg into his pocket, 
opened the window, and flew over the roofs of the 
houses right up to the Palace, where he sat down in 
a corner under the window of the Princess 9 bedroom. 

The whole town was quiet. As the clock struck the 
quarter before twelve the window was opened, and 
the Princess flew out in a great white cloak and long 
black wings. She flew over the town to a great moun- 
tain, but the traveling-companion made himself invisi- 
ble and flew behind her, raining blows on her back with 
his birch rod, till the blood flowed. Oh, what a flight 
that was through the air; the wind caught her cloak, 
which spread out on every side like the sail of a ship, 
and the moon shone through it. 

“How it hails, how it hails !” said the Princess at 
every blow, but she richly deserved it. 

At last they reached the mountain and knocked; 
there was rumble as of thunder, the side of the moun- 
tain opened, and the Princess went in, closely followed 
by the traveling-companion. No one saw him, as he 
was quite invisible. They went through a long passage 
which glittered curiously, owing to thousands of shin- 
ing spiders which swarmed over the walls, shedding 
a fiery light. They next reached a great hall built of 
gold and silver, with red and blue flowers as big as 
sunflowers all over the walls. No one could pick these 
flowers, for the stems were poisonous snakes, and the 
flowers were flames coming out of their mouths. The 
ceiling was covered with shining glow-worms and pale 
419 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


blue bats which flapped their transparent wings. This 
had an extraordinary effect. In the middle of the floor 
was a throne supported on four horses’ legs with 
harness of the red fiery spiders. The throne itself was 
of milky glass, and the cushions were made of little 
black mice holding on to each other by the tails. There 
was a canopy above it of rose-colored spider’s web, 
dotted w r ith the most exquisite little green flies which 
glittered like diamonds. 

A hideous old ogre sat in the middle of the throne 
with a crown on his ugly head and a scepter in his 
hand. He kissed the Princess on her forehead, and 
made her sit down by him on the costly throne, then 
the music began! Great black grasshoppers played 
upon Jews’ harps, and the owl beat upon his own 
stomach in place of a drum. It was a most absurd con- 
cert. Numbers of tiny little elves, each with a firefly 
on their little caps, danced round the hall. No one 
could see the traveling-companion, but he could see and 
hear everything from behind the throne, where he had 
placed himself. The courtiers who now made their 
appearance looked most grand and proper, but any 
one who could really see perceived at once what they 
were. They were merely broomsticks with cabbages 
for heads, into which the ogre had put life by his magic 
powers and dressed them up in embroidered clothes. 
But this did not matter a bit, for they were only used 
on grand occasions. 

After the dancing had gone on for a time, the Prin- 
cess told the ogre that she had another suitor, and 
420 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


asked him what she had better think of to put as a 
riddle the next day. 

‘ ‘ Listen !” said the ogre; “I will tell you what, you 
must think of something very simple, and then he 
will never think of it. Let us say one of your own 
shoes; he will never guess that. Then have his head 
chopped off, but don’t forget when you come here 
to-morrow night to bring me his eyes. I want to eat 
them.” 

The Princess curtsied low, and said that she would 
not forget the eyes. The ogre opened the mountain, 
and she flew home again; and, as before, the traveling- 
companion followed her closely and beat her so hard 
with the birch rod that she groaned at the terrible hail- 
storm and hurried back as fast as she could to her 
bedroom window. The traveling-companion flew back 
to the inn, where he found John still fast asleep. He 
took off his own clothes and went to bed too, for he had 
good right to be tired. 

John woke up early in the morning, and the travel- 
ing-companion got up at the same time, and told him 
that he had had a wonderful dream about the Princess 
and her shoe; and he begged John to ask the Princess 
if she had not thought of her shoe. This was of course 
what he had heard the ogre say in the mountain, but 
he did not want to tell John anything about that, and 
so he merely told him it was a dream. 

“I may just as well ask that as anything else!” said 
John. “Perhaps your dream will come true, for I 
always think God will help me ! All the same I will 
421 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


say good-by, for if I guess wrong you will never see 
me again . 9 9 

So they kissed each other, and John went to the 
town and up to the Palace. The hall was full of 
people ; the judges were seated in their arm-chairs, and 
they had down pillows under their heads for they had 
much to think about. The old King stood near wiping 
his eyes with a white pocket handkerchief. Then the 
Princess came in, greeting every one very pleasantly, 
and she was even lovelier than yesterday. She shook 
hands with John and said, “ Good-morning to you.” 
Now John had to guess what she had thought of. She 
looked at him most sweetly, but as soon as she heard 
him say the word shoe, she turned as white as a sheet 
and trembled all over; but that was no good, for he 
had guessed aright. 

Preserve us! how pleased the old King was, he 
turned head over heels without stopping, and every- 
body clapped their hands both on his account and on 
John’s, whose first guess had been right. 

The traveling-companion beamed with delight when 
he heard how successful John had been. But John 
folded his hands and thanked God, who no doubt would 
also help him on the two following occasions. The next 
day was fixed for the second riddle. 

The evening passed just as the previous one had 
done. When John had gone to sleep the traveling- 
companion flew behind the Princess to the mountain, 
and he beat her harder than ever, for this time he had 
taken two birch rods with him. Nobody could see him, 
422 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and lie heard everything as before. The Princess was 
to think of her glove, and this he told John just as if 
it had been a dream. John of course could easily 
guess aright, and again there was great delight at 
the Palace. The whole court turned somersaults, as 
they had seen the King do the first time; hut the 
Princess lay on the sofa and would not say a single 
word. 

Now all turned upon whether John guessed the 
third riddle or not. If he did, he would win the 
Princess and inherit the whole kingdom when the old 
King died ; but if he was wrong, he would lose his life, 
and the ogre would eat his beautiful blue eyes. 

The evening before, John went early to bed, said 
his prayers, and slept as peacefully as possible; but 
the traveling-companion tied the wings on to his back, 
and bound the sword round his waist, took all the birch 
rods, and flew off to the Palace. 

It was a pitch dark night. There was such a gale 
that the tiles flew off the roofs, and the trees in the 
garden of bones bent like reeds before the wind. The 
lightning flashed every moment, and the thunder rolled 
continuously the whole night long. The window burst 
open and the Princess flew out; she was as pale as 
death, but she laughed at the storm as if it were not 
bad enough ; her white mantle swirled about in the wind 
like the sails of a ship. The traveling-companion beat 
her with his three birches till the blood dripped on to 
the ground. She could hardly fly any further. At last 
they reached the mountain. 

423 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“What a hailstorm there is!” she said as she en- 
tered. “I have never been out in such a bad one ! ’ 1 

“One may even have too much of a good thing!” 
said the ogre. 

Then she told him that John’s second guess had been 
right, and if he was successful again in the morning 
she would never be able to come and see him again in 
the mountain. Nor would she ever be able to do any 
more of the sorcerer’s tricks as before, and she was 
very sad about it. 

“He shall never guess it,” said the ogre. 

“I shall think of something that will never enter 
his head. But we will have some fun first ! ’ ’ And he 
took the Princess by both hands and they danced round 
the room with all the little elves and the fireflies. The 
red spiders ran merrily up and down the walls, and 
the fire flowers seemed to give out sparks. The owls 
played their drums, the crickets chirped, and the grass- 
hoppers played their harps. It was a very gay ball. 

After they had danced some time the Princess was 
obliged to go home or she would be missed, and the 
ogre said he would go with her so as to have more of 
her company. 

So away they flew through the storm, and the travel- 
ing-companion wore out his birch rods on their backs ; 
never had the ogre been out in such a hailstorm. He 
said good-by to the Princess outside the Palace, and 
whispered to her, “Think of my head,” but the travel- 
ing-companion heard what he said, and at the very 
moment when the Princess slipped in at her window, 
424 


ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES 


and the ogre was turning away to go back, he seized 
him by his long black beard, and before he had time 
to look round, cut off his head close to the shoulders 
with his big sword. He threw the body into the sea 
to be food for fishes, but he only dipped the head into 
the water, and tied it up in his silk handkerchief and 
took it back to the inn, and then he went to bed. 

Next morning he gave John the handkerchief, but 
said he must not open it before the Princess asked him 
what she had thought about. 

There were so many people in the hall that they 
were packed as close together as a bundle of radishes. 
The judges were sitting in their arm-chairs with the 
soft down cushions; and the old King had his new 
clothes on, and his crown and scepter had been pol- 
ished up and looked quite festive. But the Princess 
was very, very pale, and she was dressed in black, as 
if for a funeral. 

“What have I thought of?” she asked John; and he 
immediately untied the handkerchief, and was very 
much frightened himself when he saw the hideous 
ogre’s head. A shudder ran through the whole as- 
semblage, but the Princess seemed turned to stone, and 
could not say a single word. At last she got up and 
gave her hand to John, for he had guessed all the rid- 
dles ; she looked neither to the right nor to the left, but 
sighed deeply and said, “You are my master now; 
our wedding shall take place to-night. ” “I like that, 9 ’ 
said the old King; “that is just as it should be.” All 
the people shouted hurrah, the guard’s band played in 
425 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the streets, the bells rang, and the cakewomen took the 
crape off the sugar pigs, because all was now rejoicing. 
Three oxen stuffed with chickens and ducks were 
roasted whole in the market-place, and every one could 
cut off a portion for themselves. The fountains played 
wine instead of water, and any one who bought a penny 
roll had six large buns full of plums given in. 

In the evening the whole town was illuminated. The 
soldiers fired salutes, and the boys let off squibs and 
crackers. At the Palace all was eating and drinking, 
toasting and dancing. The grand gentlemen danced 
with the pretty ladies, and the singing could be heard 
far and wide. 

But the Princess was still bewitched, and she did not 
care a bit about John; the traveling-companion knew 
this, and gave him three feathers out of the swan’s 
wings and a little bottle with a few drops of liquid in 
it. He told John to have a large bath full of water 
placed by the side of the bed, and when the Princess 
was going to get into bed he must give her a little push 
so that she fell into the water, where he was to dip 
her three times, first having thrown the three feathers 
and the drops of liquid into it. She would then be re- 
leased from the spell and would grow very fond of 
him. 

John did everything as he was told. The Princess 
shrieked when he dipped her into the water, and strug- 
gled in his hands in the form of a black swan with 
glittering eyes. The second time she came up as a 
white swan, except for a black ring round the neck. 
426 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


John prayed humbly to God, and the third time she 
came up as a lovely Princess. She was more lovely 
than she had been before, and thanked him, with tears 
in her eyes, for having released her from the spell. 

Next morning the old King came with all his 
courtiers to offer congratulations, and this went on 
all day. Last of all came the traveling-companion; 
he had his stick in his hand and his knapsack on his 
back. John kissed him over and over, and said that 
he must not go away; he must stay with them, as he 
was the cause of all their happiness. But the travel- 
ing-companion shook his head, and said gently and 
tenderly, 4 4 No; my time is up. I have only paid my 
debt. Do you remember the dead man whom you pre- 
vented the wicked men from disturbing? You gave all 
that you possessed so that he might have rest in his 
grave. I am the dead man!” And then he immedi- 
ately vanished. 

The wedding festivities lasted a whole month. J ohn 
and the Princess were devoted to each other, and the 
old King had many happy days in which to let their 
little children play “ride a cock-horse” on his knee 
and to play with his scepter. But J ohn was King over 
the whole country. 


427 


OLlS LUKOlfi, THE DUSTMAN 

T HERE is nobody in all the world who can tell so 
many stories as Ole Lukoie ! And such stories as 
he can tell ! 

When night is drawing on, and the children are sit- 
ting round the table as good as possible, or on their 
little footstools, in walks Ole Shut-eyes. He comes 
so quietly up the stairs without his shoes, and opens 
the door so softly that nobody hears him; and puff ! 
he sends a shower of milk into their eyes in such fine 
spray as to be invisible; but they can’t keep their 
eyes open after it, and so they never see him. He 
steals behind them and breathes upon their necks, 
making their heads as heavy as lead; but he never 
hurts them; he does it all from kindness to the chil- 
dren. He only wants them to be quiet, and the best 
way to make them quiet is to have them in bed ; when 
they are settled there, he can tell them his stories. 

Then as soon as the children are asleep, Ole Lukoie 
seats himself upon their beds. He is well dressed ; his 
clothes are all of silk, but it is impossible to say what 
color they are, for it shimmers green, red, and blue 
every time he turns. He has an umbrella under his 
arm, one with pictures on it, and this he holds over the 
good children, and then they dream the most delightful 
stories all night long. The other umbrella has no pic- 
428 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


tures on it, and he holds this one over the children who 
have been naughty, and then they sleep heavily till the 
morning and have no dreams at all. 

I am now going to tell you about a little boy to 
whom Ole Lukoie went every night for a whole week. 
His name was Hialmar. There are just seven stories, 
because there are seven days in a week. 

MONDAY 

“Now, just listen !” said Ole Lukoie, in the evening, 
when he had got Hialmar to bed. “First I will 
smarten things up a bit,” and then all the plants in 
pots became big trees, with their branches stretching 
right up to the ceiling and along the walls, so that the 
room looked like a delightful arbor. The branches 
were covered with flowers, and the flowers were more 
beautiful than roses; they had the most delightful 
scent, and, if you tried to eat them, were more deli- 
cious than the very nicest jam. The fruit shone like 
gold, and then there were buns bursting with plums ; 
they were splendid ! 

All at once the most miserable grumbles came from 
the table-drawer where Hialmar ’s schoolbooks were 
kept. 

“What is that now?” said Ole Lukoie, going along 
and opening the drawer. 

It was the slate groaning and writhing because there 
was a wrong figure in the sum set on it, and it was 
ready to fall to pieces. 

The pencil was hopping and skipping at the end of 

429 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


its piece of string, just as if it had been a little dog 
which would like to try and do the sum, but it couldn’t ! 
Then there was Hialmar ’s copybook clamoring away in- 
side its covers most pitifully. There was a row of 
capital letters down each side on every leaf, each with 
a little one beside it; then beside them letters which 
imagined that they looked like them, but these were 
written by Hialmar. They looked almost as if they 
had tumbled over the line on which they ought to have 
been standing upright. 

“See, this is how you ought to hold yourselves !’ ’ 
said the headlines, “so — to one side with a brisk flour- 
ish!” 

“Oh, we should like nothing better,” said Hialmar ’s 
letters, “but we can’t, we are so crooked!” 

“Then you shall have a dose of medicine,” said Ole 
Lukoie. 

“Oh, no!” they cried, and then they stood up as 
stiffly as possible. 

“Well, now we can’t tell any stories!” said Ole Lu- 
koie. “I must drill them! One, two! One, two!” 
and then he drilled the letters and they stood up stiffer 
than any headlines could stand. But when Ole Lukoie 
went away and Hialmar woke up in the morning they 
were as crooked as ever. 

TUESDAY 

As soon as Hialmar was in bed, Ole Lukoie touched 
all the furniture in the room with his little wooden 
wand, and everything began to talk. They all talked 
430 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


about themselves except the spittoon, which was silent 
and much annoyed that they were all so vain as only 
to talk about themselves, and to pay no attention to 
him, standing so modestly in the corner and allowing 
himself to be spat upon. There was a big picture in 
a gilt frame hanging over the chest of drawers; it 
was a landscape in which one saw tall, old trees, flow- 
ers growing in the grass, and a great piece of water, 
with a river flowing from it round behind a wood, past 
many castles and away to the open sea. 

Ole Lukoie touched the picture with his wand, and 
the birds in it began to sing, the branches of the trees 
moved, and the clouds scudded along; you could see 
their shadows passing over the landscape. 

Now Ole Lukoie lifted little Hialmar up close to the 
frame, and Hialmar put his leg right into the picture 
among the long grass, and there he stood; the sun 
shone down upon him through the branches of the trees. 
He ran to the water and got into a little boat which lay 
there ; it was painted red and white, and the sails shone 
like silver. Six swans, all with golden crowns round 
their necks, and a shining blue star upon their heads, 
drew the boat past the dark green woods, where the 
trees told stories about robbers and witches ; and the 
flowers told other stories about the pretty little elves, 
and all that the butterflies had told them. 

Beautiful fish with gold and silver scales swam after 
the boat ; every now and then they sprang out of the 
water and back again with a splash. Bed and blue 
birds, large and small, flew in two long lines behind 
431 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


them; the gnats buzzed, and the cockchafers boomed; 
they all wanted to go with Hialmar, and each of them 
had a story to tell. 

That was a sailing trip indeed! Now the woods 
were thick and dark, now they were like beautiful gar- 
dens full of sunshine and flowers, and among them 
were castles of glass and marble. Princesses stood 
upon the balconies, and they were all little girls whom 
Hialmar knew and used to play with. 

They stretched out their hands, each one holding 
the most beautiful sugar pig which any cakewoman 
could sell. Hialmar took hold of one end of the pig as 
they sailed by, and the princess held the other tight, 
and each had a share, she the smaller and Hialmar the 
bigger! Little princes stood sentry by each castle; 
they saluted with golden swords, and showered down 
sugar plums and tin soldiers ; they were princes indeed. 

Now he sailed through a wood, now through great 
halls, or right through a town; he passed through the 
one where his nurse lived, she who used to carry him 
about when he was quite a little boy and who was so 
fond of him. She nodded and waved her hand to him, 
and sang a pretty little song which she had written 
herself and sent to Hialmar: 

“I dream of thee for many an hour, 

Hialmar, my own, my sweeting; 

My kisses once fell like a shower, 

Thy brow and red cheeks greeting. 

“Mine ear thy first formed word addressed, 

Thy last must be in parting; 

May you on earth by Heaven be blessed, 

Angel, from Heavenward darting!” 

432 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


All the birds sang too, the flowers danced upon their 
stalks, and the old trees nodded, just as if Ole Lukoie 
were telling them stories. 

WEDNESDAY 

How the rain was pouring down outside! Hialmar 
could even hear it in his sleep, and when Ole Lukoie 
opened the window, the water stood right up to the sill ; 
it was a regular lake, and a beautiful ship lay close up 
to the house. 

i 4 Will you sail with me, little Hialmar V’ said Ole 
Lukoie; “if you will, you can go to distant countries 
to-night, and be back here again in the morning V 7 

Then all at once Hialmar found himself in his best 
Sunday clothes on board the beautiful ship; it was 
heavenly weather, and they sailed through the streets, 
past the church, till they reached a wild open sea. 
They sailed so far that there was no more land to be 
seen. They saw a flock of storks leaving home on 
their way to the warm countries, flying in a line, one 
behind the other; they had already flown a long, long 
way. One of them was so tired that his wings could 
hardly carry him any further; he was the last one in 
the row, and soon he was a long way behind. At last 
he sank, with outspread wings, lower and lower; he 
flapped his wings feebly for a few strokes, but it was 
no use. Now he touched the rigging of the ship with 
his feet, and slid down the sail with a flop on to the 
deck. 

Then the cabin boy picked him up and put him into 

433 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


the henhouse, with the chickens, and ducks and tur- 
keys ; the poor stork stood among them looking quite 
depressed. 

“What a creature !” said all the hens. The turkey- 
cock puffed himself up as big as he could, and asked 
who he was ; and the ducks waddled backwards, push- 
ing against each other, saying, “Quack, quack !” 

Then the stork told them about sunny Africa, and 
the pyramids, and the ostrich running across the des- 
erts like a wild horse ; but the ducks did not understand 
him, and they pushed each other and said, “Are we 
agreed that he is an idiot ?” 

“Yes, indeed, he’s an idiot,” said the turkey-cock 
with a gobble. Then the stork became quite silent, and 
thought about his beloved Africa. 

“Nice thin legs you’ve got!” said the turkey-cock; 
“how much a yard?” 

“Quack, quack, quack!” grinned all the ducks, but 
the stork appeared not to hear them. 

“You’re quite at liberty to laugh too,” said the tur- 
key-cock to him; “it was a very witty remark, or per- 
haps it was too low for you, gobble, gobble. He’s not 
many-sided,” he said to the others; “it’s good enough 
to amuse us!” Then all the hens clucked and the 
ducks quacked ; it was tremendous the amusement they 
got out of it. 

But Hialmar went along to the henhouse, opened the 
door, and called the stork, and it hopped out on to the 
deck to him. It was rested now, and it seemed to nod 
to Hialmar to thank him ; thereupon it spread its wings 

m 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


and flew away to the warm countries. But the hens 
clucked, the ducks quacked, and the turkey-cock’s head 
got as red as fire. 

“ To-morrow we’ll make you into soup,” said Hial- 
mar, and then he woke up and found himself lying in 
his own little bed. That was an extraordinary journey 
Ole Lukoie had taken him. 

THURSDAY 

“I’ll tell you what!” said Ole Lukoie; “don’t he 
frightened, and I will show you a little mouse.” And 
he stretched out his hand with the tiny little animal in 
it. “It has come to invite you to a wedding. There 
are two little mice who intend to enter the wedded state 
to-night. They live under the floor of your mother’s 
larder, which they say is a most delightful resi- 
dence.” 

“But how can I get through a little mouse-hole in 
the floor?” said Hialmar. 

“Leave that to me,” said Ole Lukoie; “I’ll soon 
make you small enough!” 

Then he touched Hialmar with his wand, and he 
quickly grew smaller and smaller; at last he was not 
as tall as one’s finger. 

“Now you may borrow the tin soldier’s clothes; I 
think they’ll just fit you, and it looks so smart to have 
on a uniform when one’s in company.” 

“Yes, indeed!” said Hialmar, and in a moment he 
was dressed like the grandest tin soldier. 

“Be so good as to take a seat in your mother’s thim- 

435 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


ble,” said the little mouse, “and I shall have the honor 
of drawing you!” 

‘ ‘ Heavens ! are you going to take that trouble your- 
self, young lady?” said Hialmar, and off they drove to 
the mouse’s wedding. 

First they went down under the floor into a long 
passage, which was just high enough for them to drive 
through, and the whole passage was lighted up with 
touch-wood. 

“Isn’t there a delicious smell here?” said the mouse 
who was drawing him; “the whole passage has been 
smeared over with bacon fat! Nothing could be 
nicer. ’ ’ 

Then they came to the bridal hall, where all the little 
lady mice stood on the right whispering and giggling, 
as if they were making fun of each other, and on the 
left stood all the gentlemen mice stroking their whis- 
kers with their paws. The bridal pair stood in the 
middle of the room, in the hollow rind of a cheese, kiss- 
ing each other most energetically before all the other 
people, but then they were engaged, you know, and just 
about to be married. 

More and more visitors poured in, the mice were al- 
most crushing each other to death, and the bridal pair 
had taken their place in the doorway, so that one could 
neither get in nor out. The whole room, like the pas- 
sage, was smeared with bacon fat ; there were no other 
refreshments, but for dessert a pea was produced, in 
which one of the little mice of the family had bitten 
the name of the bridal pair ; that is to say the first let- 
436 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

ter of it, and this was something quite extraordi- 
nary. 

All the mice said it was a delightful wedding, and 
the conversation most entertaining. 

And then Hialmar drove home again ; he had been in 
very grand company, but in order to get there he had 
been obliged to shrink wonderfully, to make himself 
small enough to get into the uniform of a tin soldier. 

FRIDAY 

“It is astounding what a number of grown-up people 
would like to get hold of me!” said Ole Lukoie, “ espe- 
cially those with a bad conscience. ‘Good little Ole,’ 
they say to me, ‘we can’t close our eyes, and there we 
lie all night with all our bad deeds staring us in the 
face. They are like naughty elfins ; they come and sit 
on our beds and squirt hot water over us. Won’t you 
come and chase them away so that we may have a good 
sleep?’ and then they sigh deeply. ‘We will gladly 
pay you, Ole ; good-night. You will find the money on 
the window-sill.’ But I don’t do it for money!” said 
Ole Lukoie. 

“What are we going to do to-night?” asked Hialmar. 

“Well, I don’t know whether you would like to go 
to a wedding again to-night; it’s a different kind from 
yesterday’s. Your sister’s big doll, the one which 
looks like a man, and is called Herman, is to be married 
to Bertha; besides which, it is her birthday, so there 
will be no end of presents.” 

“Oh, I know all about that; whenever the dolls want 

437 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


new clothes my sister lets them have a birthday or a 
wedding. It has happened hundreds of times ! * ’ 

“Yes, but to-night it’s the hundred and first wed- 
ding, and the hundred and first is the end of all things, 
so that’s why this one will be so grand. Just look !” 

Hialmar looked along at the table; there was the lit- 
tle pasteboard house with lights in the windows, and 
all the tin soldiers presenting arms outside. The 
bridal pair sat upon the floor leaning against the leg of 
the table; they were very thoughtful, and they had 
reason to be. Ole Lukoie, dressed in grandmother’s 
black skirt, married them; when the ceremony was 
over, all the furniture in the room joined in singing the 
following pretty song which had been written by the 
pencil ; it went to the tune of the tattoo. 

“Our song shall swing like the wind, like the wind, 

Till the bridal pair are enshrin’d, are enshrin’d, 

And they curtsey both like a stick, do you mind? 

For they’re wood inside with kid for a rind. 

Hurrah! hurrah! wood and skin well combin’d, 

We’ll sing it aloud to the rain and the wind!” 

Then the presents were given, but they had declined 
any eatables; love was enough for them without any- 
thing else. 

“Shall we go into the country or travel abroad ?” 
asked the bridegroom, and then they consulted the 
swallow which had traveled so much, and the old 
mother hen which had reared five broods of chickens. 
The swallow told them all about the delightful warm 
countries where the grapes hung in luscious clusters, 
and where the air was so mild, and the colors on the 
438 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


mountains were such as were not to be found else- 
where. 

4 4 But they haven’t got our green cabbage,’ ’ said the 
hen. 4 4 1 was in the country all one summer with my 
chicks ; there was a gravel pit that we scratched in all 
day, and then we got admission to a garden where the 
cabbage grew! Oh, how green it was! I can’t im- 
agine anything more beautiful.” 

4 4 But one cabbage is just like another,” said the 
swallow, 4 4 and then there’s so much bad weather 
here!” 

4 4 Oh, we’re used to that,” said the hen. 

4 4 But it’s so cold, it freezes.” 

4 4 That’s good for the cabbage,” said the hen. 4 4 Be- 
sides, sometimes it is warm enough. Four years ago 
didn’t we have a summer with tremendous heat? For 
five weeks one could hardly breathe! And then we 
don’t have all the poisonous creatures they have 
abroad, and there are no robbers. Any one who 
doesn’t think our own country the best, must be a fool! 
He doesn’t deserve to live here.” And the hen began 
to cry. 44 I’ve had my journeys too; I once traveled 
twelve miles in a barrel, and there’s no pleasure in 
traveling.” 

44 Ah, the hen is a wise woman!” said Bertha the doll. 
44 I don’t like traveling among mountains either, for 
first you go up and then you go down! No, we will 
move out by the gravel pit and take our walks in the 
cabbage garden.” 

And that was the end of it. 

439 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


SATURDAY 

“Are we going to have some stories f” asked little 
Hialmar, as soon as Ole Lukoie had got him to bed. 

“We haven’t time for any to-night/ ’ said Ole, as 
he opened his prettiest umbrella. “Just look at these 
Chinese !” The whole umbrella looked exactly like a 
big Chinese howl, with blue, trees all over it, and arched 
bridges on which stood little people nodding their 
heads. “We must have the whole world polished up 
for to-morrow/ ’ said Ole; “it is a holiday, for it is 
Sunday. I must go up into the church tower to see if 
the little church brownies are polishing the bells so that 
they may sound well. I must go into the fields to see 
if the wind has blown the dust off the grass and leaves. 
My biggest piece of work is to get down all the stars 
to polish them; I take them in my apron; but first I 
have to number each one, and the holes they belong to 
have to be numbered too, so that they may go back into 
their proper places, or they wouldn’t stick, and then 
we should be having too many falling stars, one after 
the other would drop* out. ’ ’ 

“Now, I say, Mr. Lukoie/’ said one of the old por- 
traits hanging on the wall, “I am Hialmar ’s great- 
grandfather ; I am much obliged to you for telling him 
stories, but you mustn’t puzzle his brains. The stars 
can’t be taken down to be polished! The stars are 
planets just like our own earth, and that’s the best of 
them ! ’ ’ 

“Much obliged to you, old great-grandf ather, ” said 

440 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

Ole Lukoie. “My best thanks to you ; you are the head 
of the family; you are an antiquity, but I am older 
than you! I am an old heathen; the Greeks and Ro- 
mans call me the Dream-god! I have my footing in 
the grandest houses; I can get on both with big and 
little! You may tell the stories yourself !” And then 
Ole Lukoie went away and took his umbrella with him. 

“I suppose one mayn’t give an opinion now!” said 
the old portrait. 

And then Hialmar woke. 

SUNDAY 

“Good-evening,” said Ole Lukoie, and Hialmar nod- 
ded; and then he jumped up and turned great-grand- 
father’s portrait with its face to the wall, so that it 
should not talk as it did last time. 

“Now you must tell me some stories about ‘The five 
green peas which lived in a peaspod,’ and about the 
‘Cock paying his addresses to the hen,’ and about the 
‘Darning-needle’ which was so fine that it fancied it 
was an ordinary needle!” 

“You may have too much of a good thing,” said Ole 
Lukoie; “I would rather show you something you 
know ! I will show you my brother ; he is also called 
Ole Lukoie, but he never comes more than once to any- 
body, and when he comes he takes them away with him 
on his horse, and tells them stories. He only knows 
two, one which is so beautiful that nobody on earth 
can imagine it, and one which is too horrible to be de- 
scribed ! ’ ’ And then Ole lifted little Hialmar up to the 
441 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


window, and said, 4 4 Now you can see my brother, the 
other Ole Lukoie! He is also called Death; you see 
he doesn’t look at all bad, as he sometimes does in pic- 
tures, all bones and joints! No, he has a silver em- 
broidered border round his coat; it is a Hussar’s uni- 
form, and a black velvet cloak streams out behind over 
his horse’s back! See how they are galloping.” 

And Hialmar saw how Ole Lukoie rode off, taking 
both old and young with him on his horse. He put 
some of them before him and some behind, but he al- 
ways asked first, 4 4 What character have you in your 
mark book!” They all said 4 4 good.” 4 4 Let me see 
myself,” said he, and then they had to show him the 
book. All those who had 4 4 very good” or 4 4 excellent” 
against their names were put up in front of him, and 
were told the most delightful stories; but those who 
had only 4 4 pretty good” or 4 4 tolerable,” had to sit 
behind him, and were told horrible stories. They shiv- 
ered, and cried, and tried to get off the horse, but they 
couldn’t do that, because they grew fast to it at once. 

4 4 But Death is a beautiful Ole Lukoie,” said Hial- 
mar. 44 I am not a bit afraid of him!” 

4 4 Nor need you be,” said Ole Lukoie, 4 4 if only you 
take care to have a good character in your book. ’ ’ 

4 4 Ah, now, that’s instructive!” mumbled great- 
grandfather’s portrait. 4 4 It’s some good after all to 
speak one’s mind!” and he was quite pleased. 

Now this is the story about Ole Lukoie! To-night 
he can tell you some more himself. 


442 


THE GOLOSHES OF FORTUNE 
Chapter I 

A GRAND party was assembled one evening in a big 
house in East Street, Copenhagen. It was one of 
those parties given, no doubt, in the expectation that 
invitations would be received in return. Half the com- 
pany were already seated at the card tables, and the 
other half were waiting to see what would be the result 
of a remark of their hostess — “Now we must see what 
we can do to amuse ourselves/ ’ 

They were at this point, and the conversation was 
getting on as well as it could. Among other subjects, 
it fell upon the Middle Ages ; some considered that pe- 
riod far superior to our own, nay, Mr. Councilor Knap 
defended this view so vigorously that he won over the 
hostess to his side, and both inveighed against Oer- 
sted’s article in the Almanack on “Ancient and Mod- 
ern Times,” in which the preference is given to our 
own. The Councilor considered the times of King 
Hans 1 as the noblest and happiest. 

During all this talk, which was only interrupted for 
a moment by the arrival of the newspaper in which 
there was nothing worth reading, we will retire into 
the ante-room which was given up to cloaks, sticks, 
umbrellas, and goloshes. 

Two maidens were sitting here, one young and one 

i He died in 1513. 

443 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


old ; it might be supposed that they had come to accom- 
pany their mistresses home, some old maid or widow 
lady. If, however, one looked a little closer, one soon 
saw that they were not ordinary maids; their hands 
were too white, their bearing and their movements 
were too distinguished for that, and then the cut of 
their clothes was too elegant and uncommon. 

They were in fact two fairies ; the youngest, though 
not Dame Fortune herself, was the messenger of 
one of her maids-of-honor, used to carry about the 
smaller gifts of fortune. The elder one looked very 
serious; she was Sorrow, and she always goes about 
herself, to do her errands in person, for then she knows 
they are well done. 

They were telling each other where they had been 
during the day ; she who was the handmaid of Fortune 
had only been employed on some trifling matters, such 
as saving a new hat from a downpour of rain, and 
procuring a greeting for an honest man from a grand 
Nobody, and so on. What she still had left to do was 
quite out of the ordinary way. 

“I must tell you,” she said , ‘ i that to-day is my birth- 
day, and in honor of it I have had intrusted to me a 
pair of goloshes which I am to convey to mankind. 
These goloshes have this property, that whoever puts 
them on will immediately find himself in whatever 
place or period he would like ; every wish with regard 
to time or place will be at once gratified, and the wearer 
will thus for once find perfect happiness in this 
world!” 


444 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“A likely story !” said Sorrow; “he will be sorely 
unhappy, and will bless the moment when he can get 
rid of the goloshes ! 1 9 

“What nonsense you are talking / 9 said the other; 
“I will place them here near the door, and some one 
will take them by mistake, and in putting them on will 
find happiness.” Thus ended the conversation. 

Chapter II 

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COUNCILOR 

It was late when Councilor Knap, lost in thought 
about the good old times of King Hans, wanted to go 
home, and Fate willed it so that instead of his own 
goloshes, he put on those of Fortune, and went out 
into East Street. But, by the magic power of the go- 
loshes, in doing so he stepped straight back three 
hundred years into the reign of King Hans, and there- 
fore his feet sank into the mud and slush of those times, 
the streets then not being paved. 

“Oh! this is terrible!” he said; “what mud; and 
what has become of the footpath? And the lamps are 
extinguished!” 

The moon had not yet risen, and it was rather foggy, 
so that everything melted away into darkness. At 
the nearest street corner, however, hung a lantern in 
front of an image of the Madonna, but the light it gave 
was as good as none ; he only saw it when he was close 
under it and his eyes fell on the figures of the Mother 
and Child. 


445 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“It is most likely a Museum of Art, and they have 
forgotten to take down the sign.” 

Two persons in the dress of the Middle Ages passed 
him. 

“Who on earth are these? They must be coming 
from a Masquerade.” 

All at once he heard drums and fifes, and blazing 
torches shone around him; the Councilor stopped to 
look, while the extraordinary procession passed him. 
First came a whole troop of drummers, beating their 
drums very cleverly; they were followed by halber- 
diers with long bows and cross-bows. The principal 
person in the procession wore a clerical dress. In as- 
tonishment the Councilor asked what was the meaning 
of all this, and who the man was? 

“It is the Bishop of Zealand!” he was answered. 

“Good gracious!” he exclaimed, “whatever has the 
Bishop taken into his head?” Then he shook his head 
and murmured that it could not possibly be the Bishop. 
Musing over this, and without looking either to the 
right or the left, the Councilor walked on down East 
Street and over the High Bridge Place. He could not 
find the bridge to Palace Square at all, but only saw 
a shallow stream, and at last came upon two men with 
a boat. 

“Does the gentleman want to be put over to Holm?” 
asked they. 

“Over to Holm?” said the Councilor, who had no 
idea in what Age he was now living. “I want to go 
to Christian’s Haven in Little Turf Street.” 

446 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The men stared at him. 

“Only tell me where to find the bridge,’ ’ he said. 
“It’s shameful that there are no lamps lighted, and 
then it’s so muddy one might be walking in a swamp.” 

But the more he talked to the boatmen, the less they 
understood each other. 

“I don’t understand your jargon,” he cried at last, 
and turned his back on them. The bridge, however, he 
could not find, nor any railing. “What a scandalous 
condition the place is in,” he said. Never certainly 
had he found his own Age so miserable as on this eve- 
ning. “I think it will be better for me to take a 
coach; but where are they?” There was not one to be 
seen. “I must go back to the King’s New Market 
Place, where there is a stand, or I shall never get back 
to Christian’s Haven.” 

So then he walked back to East Street, and had 
nearly traversed the length of it, when the moon burst 
through a cloud. 

“Good gracious! Whatever is that erection?” he 
exclaimed, as he caught sight of the East Gate which in 
olden times used to stand at the end of East Street. 
At last he found a wicket gate, and passed through on 
to what is now the New Market Place. Nothing was 
to be seen but a great open meadow, a few solitary 
bushes stood here and there, and a wide stream flowed 
across it. On the opposite bank stood a few miserable 
wooden booths used by the Dutch watermen, whence it 
gained its name of the Dutch meadow. 

“Either I see a Fata Morgana, as they call it, or else 

447 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


I am drunk !” the Councilor groaned. “What can it 
be? What is the matter with me! M He turned hack 
again, firmly convinced that he must be ill. On enter- 
ing the street again, he looked more closely at the 
houses ; most of them were timbered, and with thatched 
roofs. 

“Iam certainly quite out of sorts,’ ’ he sighed, “and 
yet I only drank one glass of punch. But I can’t stand 
even that! and it really is too bad to give us punch 
with hot salmon ! I shall have to tell our hostess so ! 
Shall I go straight back and tell them what a condition 
I am in? It would look so foolish, and I should hardly 
expect any one to be up now!” He tried to find the 
house, but in vain. 

“This is desperate! I don’t know East Street 
again! Not a shop to be seen, only miserable, tumble- 
down hovels such as one might find in Roeskilde or 
Ringsted. Oh, how ill I am; it’s no good standing on 
ceremony. But where in the world is the agent’s 
house? There is a house, but it’s not like itself! 
There are still some people up in it; I can hear them. 
0 dear, I feel very queer!” 

He found a half-open door through which the light 
streamed. It was a tavern of the olden times, and 
seemed to be a kind of beer-house. The room looked 
like one of the old-fashioned house places of Holstein 
with a clay floor. A number of good folks, consisting 
mostly of seamen, Copenhagen burghers, and a few 
scholars, sat in deep conversation over their mugs, and 
took very little notice of him as he stepped in. 

448 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Pardon me!” said the Councilor to the landlady; 
“I do not feel very well, and I should be much obliged 
if you would send for a coach to take me home to 
Christian’s Haven.” 

The woman stared at him and shook her head ; then 
she spoke to him in German, from which the Councilor 
concluded that she did not understand Danish, and 
repeated his request in German. This, as well as his 
strange dress, convinced the woman that he was a for- 
eigner. She soon understood that he felt ill, and 
brought him a mug of water which was certainly rather 
brackish, as it came from the well outside. 

The Councilor rested his head on his hand, drew a 
deep breath, and pondered over all the wonders around 
him. 

“Is that this evening’s Day?” he asked, for the sake 
of saying something, as he saw the woman folding a 
large sheet of paper. 

She did not understand what he meant, but handed 
him the sheet. It was a woodcut representing a comet 
seen in the city of Cologne. 

“That is very old,” said the Councilor, becoming 
quite excited at discovering this ancient woodcut. 
“Wherever did you get this rare print? It is very 
interesting, although the whole affair is a fable. Com- 
ets are easily explained in these days ; they are north- 
ern lights, and are no doubt caused by electricity. ’ ’ 

Those who sat near him and heard what he said 
looked at him in astonishment, and one of them rose, 
took off his hat respectfully, and said in a very serious 
449 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


manner, “ You must be a very learned man, monsieur .’ 9 

“Oh, no!” replied the Councilor; “I can only dis- 
course a little on topics which every one should under- 
stand.” 

“ Modestia is a beautiful virtue,” said the man; 
i 1 otherwise I must say to your speech milii secus vide- 
tur f yet in this case I willingly suspend my judicium.” 

“May I ask whom I have the pleasure of address- 
ing?” said the Councilor. 

“I am Baccalaureus Scripturae Sacrae,” said the 
man. 

This answer was enough for the Councilor, for the 
title agreed with the dress. Some old village school- 
master, he thought, an odd fellow, such as one still 
may find in Jutland. 

“This is certainly not a locus docendi ” began the 
man; “still I must beg you to continue the conversa- 
tion. You must be deeply read in the ancient writ- 
ings.” 

“Oh, pretty well,” replied the Councilor. “I am 
very fond of reading useful old books and modern ones 
as well, with the exception of 1 Everyday Stories. ’ 1 of 
which we really have more than enough in real life ! ’ 9 

i i Everyday Stories f 9 9 asked the Baccalaureus. 

“Yes; I mean these new novels.” 

“Oh,” replied the man with a smile, “and yet they 
are very witty, and are much read at Court. The 
King is especially fond of the ‘Romance of Iwain and 

i “Everyday Stories,” popular stories of the day, edited by Heiberg, 
written by Fru Gyllembourg. 


450 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


J awain, ’ which describes King Arthur and his knights 
of the Round Table. He has joked about it with the 
gentlemen of his Court.’ ’ 

“Well, I have certainly not read that; I suppose it 
is a new one which Heiberg has just published.” 

“No,” answered the man. “It is not by Heiberg. 
Gottfred von Gehman brought it out.” 

“Oh, is he the publisher? That is a very old name ! 
Why, he was the first printer we had in Denmark ! ’ ’ 

“Yes; he is our first printer,” said the man. 

So far, all had passed off very well. Now one of the 
burghers began to speak of a terrible pestilence which 
had been raging a year or two before, meaning the 
plague of 1484. The Councilor supposed that he al- 
luded to the cholera, and they got on without finding 
out their mistake. The Freebooter’s War of 1490 was 
still so near that it was the next topic. The English 
Freebooters had taken ships on the Rheden, said they. 
The Councilor, who was well up in the incident of 1801, 
w r as quite at one with them against the English. After 
that the conversation was not so pleasant, every mo- 
ment one contradicted the other. The honest Bacca- 
laureus was so ignorant that the simplest utterances 
of the Councilor sounded to him wildly fantastic. 
They looked at each other, and when they became quite 
incomprehensible to each other, Baccalaureus spoke 
Latin, in the hope of being better understood, but it 
was all of no use. 

“How are you now?” asked the landlady, pulling the 
Councilor by the sleeve. This brought him to himself, 
451 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


for while he had been talking he had entirely forgotten 
what had passed before. 

4 ‘Where am I?” he said, his brain reeling as he tried 
to think. 

“We will have claret, mead, and Bremen beer,” 
shouted one of the guests, “and you shall drink with 
us!” 

Two maids came in; one of them wore a parti- 
colored hood . 1 They filled the glasses and curtsied: 
a cold shiver ran down the Councilor’s back. 

“What is this! What does it mean!” said he, but 
he was obliged to drink with them. They quite over- 
powered the good man; he was in despair, and when 
one of them said he was drunk he never doubted the 
man’s words, but begged them to fetch him a 
“droschky,” and then they thought he was speaking 
the Muscovite tongue. 

Never had he been in such low, coarse company; one 
might have thought the country had gone back to 
heathendom again. Said he to himself, “This is the 
most terrible moment of my life!” Just then it came 
into his head to stoop down under the table, creep to 
the door, and so try to get away, but just as he reached 
the door the others perceived his intention and seized 
him by the feet, when, luckily for him, off came the 
goloshes, and with them all the enchantment. 

The Councilor now saw quite plainly a brightly burn- 
ing lamp in front of him, and behind it a large house; 

i In the time of King Hans, chambermaids were obliged to wear caps 
of two colors. 

452 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


every house round was familiar to him; he was in 
East Street just as we know it. He was lying with 
his feet against a gate, and the watchman sat opposite 
fast asleep. 

‘ ‘Good heavens! Have I lain here dreaming in the 
street !” he said. “Yes, to be sure, this is East Street, 
as bright and well lighted as usual. It is terrible that 
one glass of punch should have had such an effect on 
me. ’ ’ 

Two minutes later he was comfortably seated in a 
coach on his way to Christian’s Haven. He thought of 
all the terror and anxiety he had undergone, and with 
a full heart he prized the happy reality of his own 
time, which, with all its shortcomings, was so much 
better than that of which he had lately made trial. 
Now this was very wise of the Councilor. 

Chapter III 

the watchman’s adventure 

“Why, here is a pair of goloshes !” said the watch- 
man. “They must belong to the Lieutenant who lives 
up there ; they are close to the door.” The honest man 
would willingly have rung the bell and handed them in, 
for there were still lights burning, but he was afraid 
of disturbing the other people in the house. 

“It must be nice and warm to have those things on,” 
he said, “the leather is so soft!” He slipped his feet 
into them. “How odd things are in this world! Now 
the Lieutenant might be in his comfortable bed, but 
453 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


see if lie is! No! he is marching up and down the 
room. He’s a happy man, he has neither wife nor 
bairns, he goes out to parties every night; shouldn’t I 
like to be in his place, then I should be a happy 
man ! ’ 9 

As he uttered his wish the goloshes began to have 
their effect, and the watchman became the Lieutenant 
in body and soul. There he stood upstairs in his room 
holding a little pink paper between his fingers upon 
which was written a poem he had just completed. 
Who at some time in his life has not been impelled to 
write poetry? One writes poetry when one is in love, 
but a wise man does not print it. The words Lieuten- 
ant, Love, and Lack of gold form a triplet, or better 
still, a half of Fortune’s shattered die. The Lieuten- 
ant felt this also, and so, as he leant against the win- 
dow, he said with a sigh, — 

“The poor watchman out in the street is far happier 
than I ! He does not know privation as I do ! He has 
a home, wife, and children who weep with him in his 
sorrow and rejoice with his joy! Oh, I should be 
happier than I am if I could change places with 
him ! ’ 9 

At this moment the watchman again became a watch- 
man because it was through the goloshes of Fortune 
that he had become a Lieutenant. As we see, he felt 
less happy, and preferred to be what he really was, so 
the watchman was again a watchman. 

“That was an ugly dream!” said he, “but curiously 
enough I thought I was the Lieutenant up there, and 
454 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 

there was no pleasure in it. I missed my old woman 
and the little ones ; they ’re always ready to smother me 
with kisses.’ ’ 

Then he sat nodding again; he could not get the 
dream quite out of his head, for he still had the go- 
loshes on. A shooting star darted across the sky. 

‘ * There it goes!” he said; “ there are plenty of them. 
I should like well enough to see those affairs a hit 
nearer, especially the moon; it wouldn’t slip through 
my fingers. The student for whom my wife washes 
says that when we die we fly from one to the other of 
them. It’s a lie, of course, but it wouldn’t be bad. 
If I could have a little trip up there, I’d willingly leave 
my body behind. ” Now there are certain things in the 
world we should beware of expressing, especially if 
we have Fortune’s goloshes on our feet. Just listen 
to the watchman’s adventure. 

Few amongst us are not acquainted with the rapidity 
of steam-traveling either on land by railway, or at sea 
by boat, but these flights are only like the wanderings 
of the sloth, or the march of the snail, compared with 
the velocity of light. Light travels nineteen million 
times faster than the best racehorse, but it is again 
outstripped by electricity. Death is an electric shock 
which touches the heart ; the soul when freed is borne 
on the wings of electricity. The sunlight takes eight 
minutes and some seconds to perform a journey of 
over twenty millions of miles, but the soul performs 
the same distance in an infinitely shorter space of time. 
The space between the heavenly bodies is, for it, not 
455 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


greater than would be to us the distance between our 
friends ’ houses in a town, even if these were rather 
close together. In the meantime this electric shock 
entirely deprives us of the use of our bodies, unless, 
like the watchman, we are wearing the goloshes of For- 
tune. In a few seconds the watchman had traversed 
the 52,000 miles to the moon, which is, as we know, 
made of a much softer material than our earth; it is 
more like new fallen snow. He found himself on one 
of the numerous mountains which we all know from 
Dr. Madler’s large map of the moon. The interior of 
the mountain was like a large cauldron, a whole Danish 
friile in depth. At the bottom of this cauldron lay a 
town, of whose appearance an idea may be formed by 
putting the white of an egg into a glass of water, the 
substance of which it was made being quite as soft, 
while similar towers with cupolas and hanging balco- 
nies, # all perfectly transparent, hovered in the thin clear 
air. Our earth floated above his head like a great 
blood-red ball. 

Crowds of beings, all no doubt what we should call 
persons, moved about ; but their appearance was very 
different from ours. They also had a language which 
nobody could expect the soul of the watchman to un- 
derstand ; this however it did. The soul of the watch- 
man understood the language of the moon-dwellers 
perfectly well. They were disputing about our earth, 
and doubting whether it could be inhabited; the air, 
they thought, must be too thick for any sensible moon- 
being to live in it. Most of them were of opinion that 
456 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

the moon alone was inhabited, it was the original globe 
in which the old-world people lived. 

Now we must return to East Street to see what has 
become of the watchman’s body. 

Lifeless on the steps it lay ; the Morning Star 1 had 
fallen out of its hand, and the eyes looked up towards 
the moon, where its honest companion the soul was 
wandering. 

“What o’clock is it, watchman ?” asked a passer-by. 
But the watchman did not answer, so the enquirer gen- 
tly tapped him on the nose, and away went his balance ; 
the body fell down full length, for the watchman was 
dead, you know. A great fright had come over the 
man who had pushed him ; the watchman was dead, and 
dead he remained. The death was notified, and at 
dawn the body was taken to the hospital. 

It might be a rare joke for the soul when it came 
back, if, as in all probability, it went to East Street to 
look for the body, and failed to find it there. Prob- 
ably it would first go to the police-station, then to the 
lost property office to advertise for it among other 
things lost or stolen ; and last of all it might go to the 
hospital. However, it may console us to know that the 
soul is wisest when left to itself ; it is the body which 
makes it stupid. 

As we said before, the watchman’s body went to 
the hospital, where it was first taken into the bath- 
room and the goloshes were, of course, taken off. 
Then the soul had to come back again ; it immediately 

i His badge of office, a club armed with iron spikes. 

457 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


took possession of the body, and the man came to life at 
once. He declared that it had been the most terrible 
night of his life, and not for a shilling would he go 
through it again. However, all was over now. He 
was discharged the same day, but the goloshes were 
left at the hospital. 

Chapter IV 

A CRITICAL MOMENT — AN EVENING^ DRAMATIC READING 
— A MOST UNUSUAL JOURNEY 

Every one in Copenhagen knows what the Frederik’s 
Hospital looks like, but, as probably some strangers 
may read this tale, we must give a short description 
of it. 

The hospital is separated from the street by a rather 
high railing, of which the thick iron bars are just so 
far apart that a thin student — so the story goes — could 
squeeze through them, and so pay little visits to the 
outside world. The part of the body most difficult to 
squeeze through was the head ; in this case, as so often 
in the world, a small head was the most convenient. 
This will be a sufficient introduction. 

One of the young medical students, of whom only in 
a physical sense could it be said that he was thick- 
headed, happened to be on duty that night ; it was pour- 
ing with rain. Notwithstanding these two hindrances 
he pined to get out, if only for a quarter of an hour. 
It was not worth while, he thought, confiding in the 
porter, if he could slip out through the railings. There 
458 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


lay the goloshes the watchman had forgotten; little 
did he think that they were Fortune’s, but they might 
be useful in such weather ; so he slipped them on. Now 
came the question whether he could slip through the 
railings ; he had never tried it before. There he stood. 

“How I wish I had my head through,” he said, and 
immediately, although it was far too big, it slipped 
through quite easily. The goloshes understood all 
about it. Now to get the body through. “Ugh! I am 
too stout,” said he. “I thought the head was the 
greatest difficulty. I shall never get through.” 

Then he tried to draw his head back quickly, but it 
wouldn’t come. He could move his neck about, but 
that was all he could do. He first felt very angry, and 
then his spirits sank below zero. The goloshes of For- 
tune had brought him into a terrible position, and un- 
fortunately it never occurred to him to wish himself, 
free again. Instead of wishing, he struggled to free 
himself, but in vain. The rain poured down; not a 
creature was to be seen in the street. He could not 
reach the bell by the gate; how was he to get away? 
He foresaw that he might have to stand there till morn- 
ing, then a smith would have to be fetched to file the 
bars, and it would be a very slow business. All the 
blue coat boys from the school opposite would be on 
the move ; the people from Nyboder would appear on 
the scene for the fun of seeing him in the pillory. 
There would be a much bigger crowd than there was at 
the meeting for the wrestling championship last year. 
“Ugh!” he cried, “the blood is rushing to my head; I 
459 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


shall go mad. Oh! if I were only free again I should 
be all right.’ ’ 

Now he should have said this before; no sooner was 
the wish expressed than it was fulfilled, his head was 
free. He rushed into the hospital quite distracted by 
the terror which the goloshes of Fortune had caused 
him. 

We must not suppose that his adventures were over. 
No, indeed, the worst is to come. 

The night passed and the following day, but no one 
sent for the goloshes. 

In the evening there was to be a performance in the 
small theater in Kannicke Street. The house was 
crammed, and between the acts a new poem was to be 
recited. It was called “My Aunt’s Spectacles.” It 
was the story of a pair of spectacles which enabled the 
wearer to look into futurity. The poem was excel- 
lently recited, and it was received with much applause. 
Among the audience was the medical student, who 
seemed entirely to have forgotten his adventure of the 
previous evening. Again he was wearing the goloshes, 
as no one had claimed them, and the streets being 
very muddy, they would do him good service, he 
thought. 

He was much taken with the poem, and the idea of it 
haunted him. He would like such a pair of spectacles 
well enough himself. Perhaps, if they were rightly 
used, one might be able to look straight into people’s 
hearts, and this would be much more interesting, he 
thought, than to know what would happen next year. 
460 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Future events must, in due course, be revealed, 
whereas the secrets of the heart would never be di- 
vulged. 

“I can picture to myself the whole row of ladies and 
gentlemen on the front bench, if one could only look 
straight into their hearts — what a revelation there 
would be ! A sort of shop would open before me, and 
how I should use my eyes ! In the heart of that lady 
opposite, for instance, I should expect a whole milli- 
nery establishment! The next one would be quite 
empty, but it would be none the worse for a thorough 
cleaning. There would also be shops of a more sub- 
stantial nature! Ah, yes!” he sighed, “ I know one in 
which everything is substantial and good, but unfor- 
tunately there is already a shopman in it, more is the 
pity! From many I should hear the words, 4 Be so 
good as to walk inside.’ Ah! if only I could walk in, 
as a nice little thought passes through the heart!” 

This was quite enough for the goloshes ; the student 
shrank up into nothing, and began a journey of a most 
unusual kind, right through the hearts of the people 
in the front row. The first heart he entered was that 
of a lady, but at first he imagined himself to be in an 
Orthopaedic Hospital, where people go to have their 
limbs straightened, and to be cured of their deformi- 
ties. He was in a room hung round with plaster casts 
of misshapen limbs! but the difference here was, that 
whereas in the hospital the casts were taken when the 
patients were admitted, these in the heart were taken 
and preserved after the originals had left. They were, 
461 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


in fact, the casts of the bodily and mental deformities 
of their friends, thns carefully preserved. 

Quickly he passed on into the heart of another 
woman; this one appeared to him as a great sacred 
church. The white dove of Innocence hovered over the 
altar. How gladly would he have fallen on his knees 
before it, and worshiped, but he was hurried on into the 
next heart. Still, however, the notes of the organ ech- 
oed in his heart, and he seemed to have become another 
and a better man, and not utterly unworthy to enter 
the next sanctuary. Here was revealed to him a poor 
little attic, where lay a sick mother. Poor though it 
was, God ’s warm sunshine streamed brightly in ; lovely 
roses nodded their heads from the little wooden box on 
the roof, while two blue birds warbled sweetly of the 
joys of childhood, and the sick mother called down a 
blessing on her daughter. 

Now he crept on hands and knees through an over- 
crowded butcher ’s shop. Flesh, flesh, and nothing but 
flesh ; it was the heart of a rich respectable man, whose 
name no doubt will be found in the directory. 

He next entered the heart of the man’s wife. It was 
an old deserted dove-cot; the husband’s portrait was 
used as a weather-cock, which was connected with the 
doors, so that these opened and shut as the man turned 
about. 

Thence he passed into a cabinet of mirrors such as 
we have in the Castle of Rosenborg, only these had the 
power of magnifying to an extraordinary extent. In 
the middle of the room, on the floor, like the grand 
462 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


Llama of Thibet, sat the insignificant “Ego” of the 
person, astonished with the contemplation of his own 
greatness. After this he found himself in a narrow 
needle-case, full of sharp needles. “This must surely 
be the heart of some old maid!” he thought, but this 
was not the case; it was the heart of quite a young 
officer with many medals and orders, and who was 
considered a man of spirit and refinement. 

The wretched student passed out of the last heart in 
a state of great bewilderment ; he could not collect his 
thoughts at all, but fancied that his vivid imagination 
had run away with him. 

“Good heavens!” he sighed, “I must be on the high 
road to madness! It is so desperately hot here, it 
makes the blood rush to my head !” All at once he re- 
membered the terrible events of the night before, how 
his head had been stuck between the bars of the railing 
at the hospital. 4 'I must have brought it on there,” 
he said. “There’s nothing like taking things in time. 
A Turkish bath would be the best thing. I wish I were 
on the upper shelf there ! ’ 9 

Accordingly he found himself on the upper shelf in 
the “Sudarium,” but he lay there in all his clothes, 
boots and goloshes ; the drops of hot water trickled 
onto his face from the ceiling. 

“Hallo!” he shouted, and rushed down to get a 
shower-bath. The attendant also shouted when he 
saw a man with all his clothes on in the shower-bath. 

The student collected himself sufficiently to whisper, 
“It’s a wager!” The first thing he did when he got 
463 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


home was to put a blister onto his neck and his back, 
to draw out the madness. 

The next morning his back was raw, and that was all 
he gained by the goloshes. 

Chapter V 

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE COPYING CLERK 

In the meantime the watchman, whom we have not 
forgotten, remembered the goloshes he had found, 
which had gone to the hospital with him. He fetched 
them away, but as neither the Lieutenant nor any one 
else in the street would own them, they were left at the 
police station. 

“They’re exactly like my own goloshes,” said one of 
the clerks, as he examined the castaways and measured 
them with his own. “You would have to have a keener 
eye than a shoemaker to see any difference between 
them!” 

“Mr. Clerk!” said an attendant who came in with 
some papers. 

The clerk turned to speak to the man, and when 
he was gone and he returned to his examination of 
the goloshes, he could no longer remember whether the 
right hand pair or the left hand pair were his. 4 4 Those 
which are wet must be mine!” he thought, but in this 
he made a mistake for they were Fortune’s. Surely 
the police may make mistakes sometimes, as well as 
other people ! 

So he put them on, stuffed some papers into his 

464 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


pockets and took some others under his arm, for they 
were to be read and revised at home. It happened to 
be Sunday morning, and a very fine day, so he thought 
a walk in Frederiksborg garden would do him good, 
and out he went. 

No one could be a quieter or more industrious per- 
son than this young man, and right glad are we that 
he should have this little walk, it could only do him 
good after so much sitting. 

At first he walked along not thinking of anything in 
particular, so the goloshes had no opportunity of exer- 
cising their magic power. He met a friend in the 
Avenue, a young poet, who told him that his summer 
holiday was to begin on the following day. 

“Hallo! are you off again?” said the clerk. “You 
are a lucky fellow. You can fly off whenever you like, 
we others are tied by the leg!” 

“Ah! but one end of the chain is attached to the 
bread fruit tree, you must remember,” answered the 
poet. “You have no cares about your daily bread, and 
then you have a pension.” 

“Still you are far better off!” said the clerk; “you 
can sit writing poetry, what a pleasure that is. Every- 
body says pleasant things to you, and you are your 
own master. I should like you to sit writing about all 
these trivial affairs in an office !” 

The poet shook his head, the clerk shook his too, and 
neither of them changed their opinions in the least. 
Then they took leave of each other. 

“They’re queer cattle these poets,” said the clerk. 

465 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


“I should like to understand them and their ways, 
and to become a poet myself; I’m certain I shouldn’t 
write such lackadaisical rhymes as other people. 
What a lovely spring day this is, a perfect poet’s 
day ! the air is so clear, and the clouds are so beautiful, 
and there is such a delicious scent from the flowers 
and shrubs. I have not felt as I do to-day for years !” 

We already perceive that he has become a poet, 
though there was no great outward change in him, for 
it is a foolish idea that poets look different from other 
people. There may be many far more poetical natures 
among persons who are not known as poets, than in 
those of the acknowledged poets. The only difference 
is that the poet has a better memory, he can hold fast 
to a feeling or an idea till it comes forth clearly em- 
bodied in beautiful words, and this the others cannot 
do. But to pass from a commonplace person into 
one of originality must always be a great change, and 
this is what had now befallen the clerk. 

“What fragrant air!” he said; “it reminds me of 
Aunt Magdalene’s violets; ah! that was when I was 
a little boy! What an age it is since I thought about 
her, my good old aunt. She used to live there, behind 
the Exchange. She always had a few buds, or green 
shoots in water, however severe the winter might be. 
I used to smell the violets while I put the heated 
pennies on the frozen window panes to make peep 
holes. What a view that was; there were the ships 
frozen up in the canal deserted by the sailors, one 
cawing crow being the whole crew in charge. As soon 
466 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


as the fresh spring breezes returned, everything re- 
ceived new life. Amid songs and merriment the ice 
was sawn up, the ships were tarred and rigged, and 
then off they went to foreign parts. I have remained 
here, and always must remain, sitting at the office 
seeing other people taking their passports for foreign 
countries. Such is my lot!” he said, sighing deeply; 
but suddenly he stopped. “Good Heavens! what is 
the matter with me? I have never felt like this be- 
fore ! It must be the effect of the spring air, it gives 
me almost as much pain as pleasure!” He felt in his 
pockets for the papers. “These will give me some- 
thing else to think about,” he said, running his eyes 
over the first page. “ ‘Dame Sigbrith,’ an original 
tragedy in five acts,” he read. “Why, what is this, 
yet it is my own handwriting. Did I write this 
tragedy? ‘The Intrigue on the Ramparts,’ a comedy 
— where on earth did this come from, some one must 
have put it into my pocket ; here is a letter too ! ” It 
was from the manager of a theater, the pieces were 
rejected, and the letter was anything but civil. 
‘ ‘ Hum ! hum ! ’ 7 said the clerk, sitting down on a bench ; 
his ideas were so fresh and his heart so softened. 
Mechanically he plucked a flower growing near; it 
was a simple little daisy, yet what botanists can only 
explain to us in several lectures, this little flower 
teaches us at once. She related the myth of her birth, 
she told him about the power of the sun, which un- 
folded her tender leaves and drew forth her fragrance ; 
this made him reflect on the battle of life, which in 
467 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


like manner rouses the slumbering feelings in our 
breasts. Light and air both woo the flower, but light 
is the favored lover, and to him she turns continually ; 
when light disappears she shuts up her petals and 
sleeps in the safe guardianship of air. ‘ 1 It is light 
which makes me so beautiful/ ’ said the flower. “But 
it is air which gives light !” whispered the poet’s voice. 

Close by stood a boy stirring up the mud in a ditch 
with a stick; the water splashed up into the green 
branches above. The clerk thought of the millions 
of invisible insects hurled up in the drops of water, 
and to whom such an evolution must have been as ter- 
rible as it would be for us to be whirled about the 
clouds. As these thoughts came into his head, and 
all the changes which had taken place in him, he 
smiled. “I must be fast asleep and dreaming! But 
how wonderful it is ! how naturally one dreams, know- 
ing all the time that it is but a dream. If only I could 
remember when I wake all that I have been dream- 
ing. I seem to be wonderfully clear headed just now ; 
I see everything plainly, but I am sure in the morning, 
if I have any recollection of my dreams at all, they 
will be nothing but nonsense. I have tried it before. 
All the clever and brilliant things one says and hears 
in dreams are like the gold of the underground 
gnomes ; rich and bright when it is given you, but see 
it by daylight, and you have nothing but stones and 
dead leaves. Alas!” he said, sighing sadly, as he 
looked at the little birds singing gayly and hopping 
from branch to branch. “They are much better off 
468 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


than I am. Flying is a delightful accomplishment if 
you are born to it! If I were to change into anything 
else it should be into a little lark like that!” 

At once the sleeves and tails of his coat stuck to- 
gether and became wings, his clothes changed to 
feathers, and his goloshes to claws. He perceived the 
change at once, and laughed inwardly. “Now I am 
sure I am dreaming,” he said; “but such a stupid 
dream as this I have never had before.” He flew up 
among the branches with a song, but there was no 
poetry in it, for his poet’s nature was gone. The 
goloshes, like every one who does anything thoroughly, 
could only do one thing at a time. The clerk wished 
to be a poet, and he became one; now he wanted to 
be a little bird, and a bird he became; but on becom- 
ing a bird he lost his previous characteristics. 

“This is nice enough,” he said; “during the day I 
can sit at the office attending to the gravest matters, 
and at night I can dream that I am flying about like 
a lark in Frederiksborg gardens. What a capital 
farce it would make!” Then he flew down on to the 
grass, twisting and turning his head about among the 
waving stalks, which, in proportion to his present size, 
were as tall as the palms of Northern Africa. 

It was but for a few minutes ; all at once it grew as 
dark as night around him; a huge object, as it seemed 
to him, was thrown over him. It was a big cap with 
which a schoolboy from Nyboder had covered him. A 
hand crept in and clutched the clerk by the back and 
wings, so tightly that he piped, and in his terror called 
469 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


out quite loud, “You impudent young puppy, I am a 
clerk in the police service !” but to the boy it only 
sounded like peep-peep, and he hit him on the beak 
and walked off with him. 

In the Avenue he met two schoolboys of the upper 
classes — in rank at least ; in learning they were 
amongst the lowest in the school. They bought the 
bird for a few pence, and in this way the clerk got 
back to Copenhagen, where he was taken to a house 
in Goth Street. 

“It’s well that I’m only dreaming,” said the clerk, 
“or I should be in a fine rage! First I was a poet, 
now I am a lark! It was my poetical temperament 
which made me change into a bird; but it’s a miserable 
business when one falls into the hands of boys. I 
should like to know what the end of it will be.” 

The boys took him into a very elegantly furnished 
room, where a stout, merry lady received them, but 
she was by no means pleased at their bringing in a 
common little field-bird, as she called the lark. She 
would let them keep it for to-day, she said, and they 
might put it in the empty cage near the window; 
“Perhaps it would please Polly-parrot ! ” added she, 
laughing at a big green parrot which was swinging 
backwards and forwards in a stately manner in its 
gorgeous brass cage. “It is Polly’s birthday,” she 
added, with affected gayety, “so the little field-bird 
must come and congratulate!” 

Polly did not answer a word, but went on swinging. 
A pretty little canary in the next cage, which had been 
470 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


brought from its own warm fatherland, began singing 
loudly. 

i i Be quiet, screamer !” said the lady, throwing a 
handkerchief over the cage. 

“Peep-peep !” it sighed; “what a fearful snow- 
storm.’ ’ 

The clerk, or, as the lady called him, the field-bird, 
was put into a little cage close to the canary, and not 
far from the parrot. The only words the parrot could 
chatter, and which often came in oddly enough, were, 
“Now let us be men!” All its other utterances were 
just as incomprehensible as the twittering of the 
canary, except to the clerk, who, being a bird himself, 
understood his companions perfectly. 

“I used to fly about under green palms and flower- 
ing almonds,” sang the canary. “I used to fly with 
my brothers and sisters, among gorgeous flowers and 
over the glassy lake, where the plants at the bottom 
nodded to us. There were lots of bright parrots, who 
used to tell us the funniest stories in the world.” 

“They were wild birds,” answered the parrot; 
“they had no education. Now let us be men!” 

“Do you remember the pretty girls dancing in the 
great outspread tent under the flowering trees? Do 
you remember the luscious fruits and the cooling juice 
of the wild grapes?” 

“Oh, yes!” said the parrot; “but I’m far better off 
here ; I have good food, and I am treated with great 
consideration. I know how clever I am, and I desire 
nothing more. Now let us be men! You have a 
471 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


poet’s soul, as they call it; I have sound accomplish- 
ments and wit. You have genius, hut no discretion; 
you give yourself away by bursting out into those 
piercing notes of yours, and then they smother you. 
They never presume to cover me up, for I cost them 
so much ; then I impress them with my beak, and con- 
found them all with my wit! wit! wit! Now let us be 
men ! ’ 9 

i ‘ Oh, my beloved flowery fatherland!” sang the 
canary. “I will pipe of your dark green trees, of 
your little bays, where the drooping branches kiss the 
waters. I will ever sing of the rejoicing of my bril- 
liant brothers and sisters hovering over the cactus 
plants, ‘Wells of the desert,’ as they are called!” 

“Oh, stop that lackadaisical strain!” said the 
parrot. “Say something that one can laugh at. 
Laughter is a sign of the highest mental cultivation. 
Can a dog or a horse laugh? No, they can cry, but 
laughter is only given to mankind. Ho! ho! ho!” 
laughed the parrot, adding its usual phrase, “Now 
let us be men!” 

“You little gray Danish bird,” said the canary, 
“they have made a captive of you too! It must be 
cold in your woods, but still there is freedom in them. 
Fly away! they have forgotten to fasten your cage, 
and the window is open at the top. Fly! fly!” The 
clerk immediately hopped out of his cage. Just at 
that moment the half-open door to the next room 
creaked, and the cat crept stealthily in with green shin- 
ing eyes, and gave chase. 

472 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The canary fluttered in its cage : the parrot flapped 
its wings and shouted, “Let us be men!” The clerk 
was terribly frightened, and flew off through the 
window, over the house-tops and over the streets; at 
last he was obliged to take a little rest. 

There was something familiar about the opposite 
house; there was an open window, and he flew in, it 
was his own room, and he perched upon the table. 

“Let us be men!” he said, without thinking of what 
he was saying, only repeating the parrot’s phrase 
mechanically ; at the same moment he became the clerk 
again, there he was sitting on the table. 

“Good heavens!” said he, “however did I get here 
sleeping on the table, and very disturbed dreams I’ve 
been having too! Stupid nonsense the whole story!” 

Chapter VI 

THE LAST BEST GIFT OF THE GOLOSHES 

Next day in the early morning, while the clerk was 
still in bed, some one knocked at the door. It was his 
neighbor, the Divinity Student, who lived on the same 
floor, and now walked in. 

“Lend me your goloshes,” he said, “it’s so wet in 
the garden, but the sun is shining, and I want to smoke 
a pipe.” 

He put on the goloshes and went down into the 
garden, which possessed one apple and one pear tree. 
Even that was a great treasure in the heart of the 
town. 


473 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The student walked up and down the path, it 
was only six o’clock; a post horn sounded in the 
street. 

4 4 Oh, to travel, to travel! surely it is the most de- 
lightful thing in the world. It is the great desire of 
my heart! If I could travel, this restlessness which 
comes over me would be quieted. But it must be far 
away! I should like to see beautiful Switzerland, 
travel in Italy, and — ” 

It was a good thing that the goloshes began to have 
an effect at once, or he would have traveled about too 
much either for himself or for us. Well, he traveled. 
He was in the heart of Switzerland, but packed into a 
diligence with eight other people. He had a head- 
ache and a crick in his neck, his legs were swollen from 
sitting so long, and his boots pinched him. He was 
half asleep and half awake. He had a letter of credit 
in his right hand pocket, and his passport in the left, 
and a little leather purse with some Louis-d’Ors sewn 
up in it in his breast-pocket. Every time he dropped 
off, he dreamt that one or other of these w T as lost, and 
he started up in feverish haste ; the first movement of 
his hand was a triangle from right to left, and up to 
his breast, to feel if they were still there. Umbrellas, 
sticks, and hats swayed about in the net above their 
heads, and considerably impaired the view, which was 
grand in the extreme. He stole glances at it, while 
his heart sang jubilantly words which we know at 
least one other poet has sung, but which have not up 
to the present time been printed. 

474 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


The landscape was stupendous, dark, and solemn. 
The pine-woods looked like mere heather on the high 
mountains, whose summits were lost in wreaths of 
mist. Soon it began to snow, and a piercing wind 
sprang up. 

“ Oh ! ’ 1 he shuddered, * ‘ if only we were on the other 
side of the Alps, it would be summer, and I should 
have got some money on my letter of credit, the fear 
of losing it spoils all my pleasure in Switzerland! 
Oh ! if only I were on the other side. ’ 9 

And there he was on the other side, far in the in- 
terior of Italy between Florence and Rome. The lake 
of Thrasymene lay before him like a flaming sheet of 
gold, amidst the dark blue mountains. Here, where 
Hannibal defeated Flaminius, the vines now entwined 
their graceful tendrils; charming half-naked children 
guarded a flock of coal-black pigs among a group of 
scented laurels by the wayside. If we could paint this 
picture so as to do it justice, every one who saw it 
would rejoice over “beautiful Italy V 9 but neither the 
student nor any of his companions in the carriage 
would have said it. 

Thousands of poisonous flies and gnats swarmed 
around them, and in vain they attempted to drive them 
out with myrtle branches; they bit all the same. Not 
a man in the carriage but his face was swollen and 
disfigured from the bites. The poor horses looked 
like carrion, the flies settled in masses upon them; they 
only had a momenta relief, when the driver got down 
and scraped them off. When the sun went down, a 
475 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


sharp wind whistled round, which was anything but 
pleasant, but a beautiful green light rested on moun- 
tains and clouds — you must go and see it thoroughly 
to appreciate it. It was wonderful! The travelers 
thought so too, only — their stomachs were empty, their 
limbs weary, and all their thoughts turned towards 
quarters for the night. But where were these? They 
looked much more anxiously for an inn than at the 
beautiful view. 

Their road ran through an olive wood, just as at 
home it might have wound through stunted willows; 
here lay the solitary inn. Half a score of crippled 
beggars were encamped outside, the best of whom 
looked like ‘ ‘ Famine ’s ’ 1 eldest son, ‘ 4 Snarleyyow, ’ ’ 
in Captain Marryat’s “Dog Fiend.’ ’ The others 
were either blind, or had withered feet and crept on 
their hands, or contracted arms and fingerless hands. 
It was indeed misery in rags. 

“Eccellenza miserabili,” they moaned, stretching 
out their maimed limbs. The hostess herself had bare 
feet, uncombed hair, and was clad in a dirty blouse. 
The doors were tied up with string, the floors con- 
sisted of half uprooted cobble stones, bats flew about 
under the ceiling, and the odor — 

“It would be as well if we had the supper served 
in the stable,” said one of the travelers; “there at 
least one knows what the air is one breathes.” 

The windows were opened to let in a little fresh air, 
but quicker than the air, in came the withered arms 
and the everlasting whines, “Miserabili, Eccellenza.” 
476 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


There were many inscriptions on the walls, many of 
them uncomplimentary to ‘ 4 La bella Italia.” 

The dinner was brought; it consisted of water soup 
flavored with pepper and rancid oil. The same oil 
figured in the salad ; stale eggs and roasted cockscombs 
were the grandest dishes, even the wine had a dis- 
agreeable taste; it was a nauseous mixture. 

At night the boxes were piled against the door, and 
one of the travelers kept watch while the others slept. 
The student had the first watch. Oh! how close it 
was ! The heat was oppressive, the gnats stung, and 
the miserabili outside whined in their sleep. 

“ Traveling would be well enough / 9 sighed the 
traveler, “if one had no body. If it could rest and 
the spirit soar alone. Wherever I go there is always 
something wanting which oppresses the heart, some- 
thing better than the present, and that I must have. 
Something better, the best of all, but where, and what 
is it ? I know very well what I want. I want to reach 
a happy goal, the happiest of all!” 

As the words escaped his lips, he found himself back 
at home ; long white curtains hung before the windows, 
and a coffin stood in the middle of the floor, and he 
himself lay in it, in the quiet sleep of death. His wish 
was fulfilled, his body was at rest, and his spirit free. 
“Call no man happy before he is in his grave,” were 
Solon *s words, which here received a fresh confirma- 
tion. 

Every corpse is an enigma to Immortality, neither 
could this sphinx before us answer the question 
477 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


which the living man had written down two days 
before — 

“Strong Death, thy very silence wakes our dread, 

As to the grave our wandering steps are led. 

Shall now my soul up Jacob’s ladder pass 
Into Death’s garden, there but to spring as grass? 

“Our greatest suffering oft the world sees not. 

O Thou! to whom fell sad and lonely lot, 

Thou knowst, that heavier are our woes passed by, 

Than all the earth that on our graves doth lie.” 

Two figures were moving about in the room; we 
know them both. They were Sorrow and Fortune’s 
handmaid ; they bent over the dead man. 

“Seest thou now,” said Sorrow, 4 ‘what sort of hap- 
piness thy goloshes brought to mankind ! ’ 9 

“They at least brought him who sleeps here, good 
of a lasting kind , 9 9 answered J oy. 

‘ 1 Oh, no ! ’ 9 said Sorrow ; “ he went of his own accord ; 
he was not called away! His spiritual powers were 
not given strength enough to accomplish the task 
which had been set him. I will do him a true kind- 
ness!” saying which she took off the goloshes; the 
sleep of death was over — the dead man rose to life 
again with renewed strength. 

Sorrow vanished, taking with her the goloshes ; she 
seemed to look upon them as her property. 


478 


THE SNAIL AND THE EOSE-BUSH 



EOUND a garden was a fence of hazel-bushes, 


and beyond that were fields and meadows, with 
cows and sheep ; but in the center of the garden stood 
a Eose-bush in full bloom. Under it lay a Snail, who 
had a great deal in him, according to himself. “Wait 
till my time comes,” said he; “I shall do a great deal 
more than to yield roses, or to bear nuts, or to give 
milk as cows do.” 

“I expect am immense deal from you,” said Eose- 
bush. “May I ask when it is to come forth?” 

“I shall take my time,” replied the Snail. “You 
are always in such a hurry with your work, that curi- 
osity about it is never excited.” 

The following year the Snail lay, almost in the same 
spot as formerly, in the sunshine under the Eose-bush ; 
it was already in bud, and the buds had begun to ex- 
pand into full-blown flowers, always fresh, always new. 
And the Snail crept half out, stretched forth its feel- 
ers, and then drew them in again. 

“Everything looks just the same as last year; there 
is no progress to be seen anywhere. The Eose-bush 
is covered with roses — it will never get beyond that.” 

The summer passed, the autumn passed; the Eose- 
bush had yielded roses and buds up to the time that 
the snow fell. The weather became wet and tempestu- 


479 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


ous, the Rose-bush bowed down towards the ground, 
the Snail crept into the earth. 

A new year commenced, the Rose-bush revived, and 
the Snail came forth again. 

‘‘You are now only an old stick of a Rose-bush, ,, 
said he; “you must expect to wither away soon. You 
have given the world all that was in you. Whether 
that were worth much or not, is a question I have not 
time to take into consideration; but this is certain, 
that you have not done the least for your own im- 
provement, else something very different might have 
been produced by you. Can you deny this? You 
will soon become only a bare stick. Do you under- 
stand what I say?” 

“You alarm me,” cried the Rose-bush. “I never 
thought of this.” 

“No, you have never troubled yourself with think- 
ing much. But have you not occasionally reflected 
why you blossomed, and in what way you blossomed 
— how in one way and not in another?” 

“No,” answered the Rose-bush; “I blossomed in 
gladness, for I could not do otherwise. The sun was 
so warm, the air so refreshing; I drank of the clear 
dew and the heavy rain; I breathed — I lived! There 
came up from the ground a strength to me, there came 
a strength from above. I experienced a degree of 
pleasure, always new, always great, and I was obliged 
to blossom. It was my life ; I could not do otherwise.” 

“You have had a very easy life,” remarked the 
Snail. 


480 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“To be sure, much has been granted to me,” said 
the Rose-bush, “but no more will be bestowed on me 
now. Y ou have one of those meditative, deeply think- 
ing minds, one so endowed that you will astonish the 
world.” 

“I have by no means any such design,” said the 
Snail. “The world is nothing to me. What have I 
to do with the world? I have enough to do with my- 
self, and enough in myself.” 

“But should we not in this earth all give our best 
assistance to others — contribute what we can? Yes! 
I have only been able to give roses ; but you — you who 
have got so much — what have you given to the world? 
What will you give it?” 

“What have I given? What will I give? I spit 
upon it! It is good for nothing! I have no interest 
in it. Produce your roses — you cannot do more than 
that — let the hazel bushes bear nuts, let the cows give 
milk! You have each of you your public; I have mine 
within myself. . I am going into myself, and shall re- 
main there. The world is nothing to me.” 

And so the Snail withdrew into his house, and closed 
it up. 

“What a sad pity it is!” exclaimed the Rose-bush. 
“I cannot creep into shelter, however much I might 
wish it. I must always spring out, spring out into 
roses. The leaves fall off, and they fly away on the 
wind. But I saw one of the roses laid in a psalm- 
book belonging to the mistress of the house; another 
of my roses was placed on the breast of a young and 
481 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


beautiful girl, and another was kissed by a child's soft 
lips in an ecstasy of joy. I was so charmed at all this : 
it was a real happiness to me — one of the pleasant re- 
membrances of my life. ’ 9 

And the Rose-bush bloomed on in innocence, while 
the Snail retired into his slimy house — the world was 
nothing to him ! 

Years flew on. 

The Snail had returned to earth, the Rose-bush had 
returned to earth ; also the dried rose-leaf in the psalm- 
book had disappeared, but new rose-bushes bloomed 
in the garden, and new snails were there; they crept 
into their houses, spitting — the world was nothing to 
them ! 

Shall we read their history too? It would not be 
different. 


482 


THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES 


M ANY years ago there was an Emperor who was 
so excessively fond of new clothes that he spent 
all his money on them. He cared nothing about his 
soldiers nor for the theater, nor for driving in the 
woods except for the sake of showing off his new 
clothes. He had a costume for every hour in the day, 
and instead of saying as one does about any other 
King or Emperor, “He is in his council chamber," 
here one always said, “The Emperor is in his dress- 
ing-room. ’ 9 

Life was very gay in the great town where he lived ; 
hosts of strangers came to visit it every day, and 
among them one day two swindlers. They gave them- 
selves out as weavers, and said that they knew how 
to weave the most beautiful stuffs imaginable. Not 
only were the colors and patterns unusually fine, but 
the clothes that were made of the stuffs had the pecul- 
iar quality of becoming invisible to every person who 
was not fit for the office he held, or if he was impos- 
sibly dull. 

“Those must be splendid clothes," thought the Em- 
peror. “By wearing them I should be able to dis- 
cover which men in my kingdom are unfitted for their 
posts. I shall distinguish the wise men from the fools. 
483 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


Yes, I certainly must order some of that stuff to be 
woven for me.” 

He paid the two swindlers a lot of money in ad- 
vance, so that they might begin their work at once. 

They did put up two looms and pretended to weave, 
but they had nothing whatever upon their shuttles. 
At the outset they asked for a quantity of the finest 
silk and the purest gold thread, all of which they put 
into their own bags while they worked away at the 
empty looms far into the night. 

“I should like to know how those weavers are get- 
ting on with the stuff,” thought the Emperor; but he 
felt a little queer when he reflected that any one who 
was stupid or unfit for his post would not be able to 
see it. He certainly thought that he need have no 
fears for himself, hut still he thought he would send 
somebody else first to see how it was getting on. 
Everybody in the town knew what wonderful power 
the stuff possessed, and every one was anxious to see 
how stupid his neighbor was. 

“I will send my faithful old minister to the weav- 
ers,” thought the Emperor. “He will be best able to 
see how the stuff looks, for he is a clever man and no 
one fulfills his duties better than he does ! ’ ’ 

So the good old minister went into the room where 
the two swindlers sat working at the empty loom. 

“Heaven preserve us!” thought the old minister, 
opening his eyes very wide. “Why I can’t see a 
thing!” But he took care not to say so. 

Both the swindlers begged him to be good enough 

484 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


to step a little nearer, and asked if he did not think 
it a good pattern and beautiful coloring. They 
pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister 
stared as hard as he could, but he could not see any- 
thing, for of course there was nothing to see. 

“Good heavens !” thought he, “is it possible that 
I am a fool. I have never thought so, and nobody 
must know it. Am I not fit for my post! It will 
never do to say that I cannot see the stuffs.” 

“Well, sir, you don’t say anything about the stuff,” 
said the one who was pretending to weave. 

‘ ‘ Oh, it is beautiful ! quite charming ! ’ ’ said the min- 
ister looking through his spectacles; “this pattern 
and these colors! I will certainly tell the Emperor 
that the stuff pleases me very much . 9 9 

“We are delighted to hear you say so,” said the 
swindlers, and then they named all the colors and de- 
scribed the peculiar pattern. The old minister paid 
great attention to what they said, so as to be able to re- 
peat it when he got home to the Emperor. 

Then the swindlers went on to demand more money, 
more silk, and more gold, to be able to proceed with 
the weaving; but they put it all into their own pockets 
— not a single strand was ever put into the loom, but 
they went on as before weaving at the empty loom. 

The Emperor soon sent another faithful official to 
see how the stuff was getting on, and if it would soon 
be ready. The same thing happened to him as to the 
minister ; he looked and looked, but as there was only 
the empty loom, he could see nothing at all. 

485 


ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES 


“Is not this a beautiful piece of stuff ?” said both 
the swindlers, showing and explaining the beautiful 
pattern and colors which were not there to be seen. 

“I know I am no fool!” thought the man, “so it 
must be that I am unfit for my good post ! It is very 
strange though! however one must not let it appear!” 
So he praised the stuff he did not see, and assured 
them of his delight in the beautiful colors and the 
originality of the design. “It is absolutely charm- 
ing!” he said to the Emperor. Everybody in the town 
was talking about this splendid stuff. 

Now the Emperor thought he would like to see it 
while it was still on the loom. So, accompanied by a 
number of selected courtiers, among whom were the 
two faithful officials who had already seen the imagi- 
nary stuff, he went to visit the crafty impostors, who 
were working away as hard as ever they could at the 
empty loom. 

“It is magnificent!” said both the honest officials. 
“Only see, your Majesty, what a design! What 
colors!” And they pointed to the empty loom, for 
they thought no doubt the others could see the stuff. 

“What!” thought the Emperor; “I see nothing at 
all! This is terrible! Am I a fool? Am I not fit 
to be Emperor! Why, nothing worse could happen 
to me!” 

“Oh, it is beautiful!” said the Emperor. “It has 
my highest approval!” and he nodded his satisfaction 
as he gazed at the empty loom. Nothing would in- 
duce him to say that he could not see anything. 

486 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


The whole suite gazed and gazed, but saw nothing 
more than all the others. However, they all exclaimed 
with his Majesty, 4 4 It is very beautiful !” and they ad- 
vised him to wear a suit made of this wonderful cloth 
on the occasion of a great procession which was just 
about to take place. 4 4 It is magnificent! gorgeous! 
excellent ! ’ ’ went from mouth to mouth ; they were all 
equally delighted with it. The Emperor gave each of 
the rogues an order of knighthood to be worn in their 
buttonholes and the title of 4 4 Gentlemen weavers / 9 

The swindlers sat up the whole night, before the 
day on which the procession was to take place, burn- 
ing sixteen candles; so that people might see how 
anxious they were to get the Emperor’s new clothes 
ready. They pretended to take the stuff off the loom. 
They cut it out in the air with a huge pair of scissors, 
and they stitched away with needles without any 
thread in them. At last they said: 4 4 Now the Em- 
peror’s new clothes are ready!” 

The Emperor, with his grandest courtiers, went to 
them himself, and both swindlers raised one arm in the 
air, as if they were holding something, and said: 
4 4 See, these are the trousers, this is the coat, here is the 
mantle!” and so on. 4 4 It is as light as a spider’s 
web. One might think one had nothing on, but that 
is the very beauty of it!” 

4 4 Yes!” said all the courtiers, but they could not 
see anything, for there was nothing to see. 

4 4 Will your imperial majesty be graciously pleased 
to take off your clothes,” said the impostors, 4 4 so that 
487 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 

we may put on the new ones, along here before the 
great mirror.’ ’ 

The Emperor took off all his clothes, and the im- 
postors pretended to give him one article of dress after 
the other, of the new ones which they had pretended 
to make. They pretended to fasten something round 
his waist and to tie on something; this was the train, 
and the Emperor turned round and round in front of 
the mirror. 

4 ‘How well his majesty looks in the new clothes! 
How becoming they are!” cried all the people round. 
“What a design, and what colors! They are most 
gorgeous robes !” 

“The canopy is waiting outside which is to be car- 
ried over your Majesty in the procession,” said the 
master of the ceremonies. 

“Well, I am quite ready,” said the Emperor. 
“Don’t the clothes fit well?” and then he turned round 
again in front of the mirror, so that he should seem 
to be looking at his grand things. 

The chamberlains who were to carry the train 
stooped and pretended to lift it from the ground with 
both hands, and they^walked along with their hands 
in the||i|| T^y4^^ggd not let it appear that they 
could not see anything. 

Then the Emperor walked along in the procession 
under the gorgeous canopy, and everybody in the 
streets and at the windows exclaimed, “How beautiful 
the Emperor’s new clothes are! What a splendid 
train! And they fit to perfection!” Nobody would 
488 


ANDERSENS FAIRY TALES 


let it appear that he could see nothing, for then he 
would not be fit for his post, or else he was a fool. 

None of the Emperor’s clothes had been so success- 
ful before. 

* ‘But he has got nothing on,” said a little child. 

“Oh, listen to the innocent,” said its father; and 
one person whispered to the other what the child had 
said. “He has nothing on; a child says he has noth- 
ing on!” 

“But he has nothing on!” at last cried all the people. 

The Emperor writhed, for he knew it was true, but 
he thought “the procession must go on now,” so held 
himself stiffer than ever, and the chamberlains held up 
the invisible train. 


THE END 


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